Mozambican sculptor, Mabunda’s ‘chair’ runs into firearms trouble in U.S.

Sculptors might want to learn something from a Mozambican sculptor, Goncalo Mabunda whose work, made of discarded military metals are currently heading for a subject of legal battle in the U.S.

 

War Throne by Goncalo Mabunda

Reports say Mabunda’s work titled War Throne 

was seized at Philadelphia airport by US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) from a collector, Adam Solow who purchased the artwork for $8,200.

Strangely or rightly, the ATF, according to sources, won't return the art piece to Solow unless the work is registered under U.S firearms importation permit as well as a clause to dismantle the sculpture.

The collector refuses: "This is a piece of art, a cultural object," Solow said Thursday. "Unless I was MacGyver, I don't know how I'd be able to reconstitute all those pieces and make it into a working weapon. Solow and partner Alex Isbell, of Center City's Solow, Isbell, and Palladino, plan to file a lawsuit challenging the ATF's characterization of "War Throne" as a firearm and asking the government to return it intact, says a report from Phillly.com.

However, the sculptor appears like a trouble maker. See his kind of works: