Piecemaker/Peacemaker by Frankie Flood
Immediate Response:
When I first look at this piece, I think of it more in practical terms. Functionally, as a pizza cutter, it seems quite extreme. The most eye-catching part about this piece is that the handle is a revolver pistol. The way in which Frankie Flood bent the barrel to attach the blade for the pizza cutter also intrigues me and is a cool feature. The statement about making the handle a gun is interesting and makes me want to think of cowboys and the western frontier. Additionally, the detail in the handle brings the piece to life more as it depicts a person standing.
Objective Description
The piece is all silver in color, except for the bronze-colored cylinder of the pistol. The pistol which is the handle of the pizza cutter has a portrait of a man shirtless and depicts most of his body on the pistol grip. The hammer of the pistol appears to be partially cocked. The barrel of the revolver, however, is bent close to a 45-degree angle downwards to connect to the front support for the cutter. The front support has a piece of metal that touches the ground and on either side are pieces of metal that are shaped like a v extended to its left and right. Then connected by the front support as well as an additional support connected to the top of the barrel is the pizza cutter, which acts as the
Technical Decision
Design Orientation Towards the Viewer:
The artist presents the piece in multiple orientations. However, I believe that it is still inviting the viewer to make assumptions about it and to question why a revolver was made into a pizza cutter. The piece wants the viewer to question the similarities between the two parts, the revolver, and the pizza cutter. Why would anyone make a revolver a pizza cutter? It takes two seemingly unrelated ideas, violence, and food, and turns them into one.
The Work in the World
This piece of artwork shows multiple things, the revolver, with a portrait of a man on the handle representing strength and power, additionally the type of weapon being a revolver reminds me more of the western frontier and the exploration of America. Additionally, the front support, which connects to the blade, reminds me of boot spurs. The thing that brings this piece into the future is the functional part of it, the pizza cutter. It makes the perception of the piece that seems to be related to guns less obvious and obscures the point the artist is trying to make.
The Story it Tells
After reading through some comments made by the artist, the main idea surrounding this piece is his experience with guns from his childhood. He claimed to have worked with them quite a lot in his father’s shop learning how to repair them. This gives more insight into his perception of firearms as a child. The portrait of the man on the handle could potentially be representative of the association that the artist had about his father and how he provided for his family. Additionally, the artist alludes to a passage from the Bible, in which it mentions those who were “rebuked by God” and them turning their “swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks”. This passage enables us as a viewer to understand the true reason for turning this revolver into a pizza cutter. For the artist, it’s a piece representing personal change and growth. It also provides an outlet to think more broadly about the impacts that weapons and firearms have on our society today.