Glock 16

Oscillating between seriousness and apparent naivety, the series Not Carnage Pencils, launched five years ago in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, stands out today as one of Luke Newton’s most memorable works.

The artist creates a tension between the symbolism of materials and that of forms: pencils, as vehicles of creation and expression, are transformed into firearms, embodiments of violence and destruction. From this striking contrast emerges a powerful conceptual space, where opposites interact and blur.

Through this series, Newton invites the viewer to look beyond the obvious and examine contemporary paradoxes. Here, creativity does not simply stand in opposition to destruction: it reveals it, subverts it, and questions it.