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Colorado Artist Creates Portrait Of Florida Murder Suspect With Skittles

DENVER (CBS4) - A Colorado artist has created a portrait of George Zimmerman, the man charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Treyvon Martin in Florida.

Andy Bell created a portrait of Zimmerman entirely out of Skittles, the candy that Martin was carrying when he was shot. That portrait is now on display at the RedLine art gallery in Denver.

From close up it looks like just rows and rows of Skittles, but from far away it's a piece of art depicting the infamous Zimmerman mug shot made entirely of candy.

"I kind of jumped to see it," a gallery patron said.

"It just makes you take a step back like, 'Huh. Oh my gosh.' I don't know; just to see him here," another patron said.

The piece is the first thing seen when walking into the art gallery. Bell started it hoping to get people talking more about the case.

"I wanted there to be a trial … I wanted justice," Bell said.

Four weeks after Bell started the portrait the case has progressed. It was by pure coincidence, however, the picture ended up on display.

"I was actually here on a field trip. I was talking to Louise Marterano, one of the organizers here. She asked what I had been working on so I pulled up a photo on my phone of what I'd been working on that I literally finished an hour before," Bell said.

"She ran in to show it to me and I thought, 'This is not particularly interesting. I've seen this image a million times over the past few months.' And she said, 'Well it's all made out of Skittles,' " RedLine Executive Director PJ D'Amico said.

The Zimmerman Skittles portrait is called "Fear Itself" and it's done on a 36-inch by 48-inch piece of plywood. The more than 12,000 Skittles were glued to the wood and covered in varnish. Bell believes his artwork conveys a specific message.

"We as a society, though we might be afraid of a lot of things, when it comes down to it, some of those things might be as innocuous as a bag of Skittles," Bell said.

"I think we're sort of using levity to sort of invite people to see that we've got to change how we see the world," D'Amico said.

For those who would like to see the portrait, Redline is located at 2350 Arapahoe Street in Denver. It will be on display through June 1. Admission to the gallery is free.

LINK: RedLine

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