It’s the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog vs the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! These pieces were created for the annual Famous Fictional show at Mad Art Gallery in St. Louis, organized by Ron Weaver & Dan Zettwoch.

Bill Keaggy

King Arthur & The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog vs The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Wood, bamboo, rabbit fur, fabric, plastic, glue, glitter, fake gemstones, fake shrubbery (!), nails, wood stain, acrylic paint, glow-in-the-dark paint, pink princess dress-up gloves, cardboard scavenged from a crashed model rocket, and one of those thin copper egg dipping handle thingies you get in an Easter egg coloring kit.

From the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, 1975. 

A Reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: “Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, “Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy. And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals… And the Lord spake, saying, “First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobes’t thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.”

This year’s theme is Famous Fictional: Friends & Foes! The concept is this: choose a character from any medium. But don’t do a portrait of that character. Instead, one of your portraits will be of a character that is a “friend” of that character and one that is a “foe” of that character. How you interpret either is up to you, but “friend” would include any teammate, sidekick, spouse, family member, confidant, etc. that shares a positive relationship with the original character. “Foe” would include the opposite of that, any arch-villain, rival, rogue, spouse, family member, etc. that shares a negative relationship with the original character. But these relationships are certainly open to interpretation.

As an example, if “Character Zero” is Superman, a friend could be Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Ma Kent, etc. and a foe could be Lex Luthor, Bizarro, etc. Batman, for instance, could easily fit in either category, depending on the interpretation. (Everybody knows Superman, right?)

As for limitations on source media, there really aren’t any. As usual though, try not to forget the “famous” part of he show title. It’s a lot more interesting for everyone if the characters are recognizable, at least to a reasonable degree.

I made an alternate version too. It’s the last image.

Previously: 200 Wilhelms, Reddy Kilowatt & Mr. Happy Crack, So Many Adventures.