C O N F I S C A T E D   W E A P O N R Y   A N   A R T   F O R M   A T   E X H I B I T

Fifty artists create distinct images out of the disabled firearms for the "Guns in the Hands of Artists" show

Saturday, April 14, 2001
By Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian staff

Two women seated on a gray bench each raised a handgun to the side of their heads when Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker approached.

Kroeker, a 32-year Los Angeles police veteran who is in his second year as Portland's chief, said that the image was shocking and that he was taken aback at first. But he cooled down when he realized it was part of an art exhibit that he had helped to facilitate.

"It sends a strong message," Kroeker said Friday, as he and his command staff toured the "Guns in the Hands of Artists" exhibit at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in North Portland.

The Portland Police Bureau donated 50 confiscated firearms that police were going to destroy to local artist Brian Borrello. Borrello, who has an art studio on Northeast Alberta Street, helped create a similar exhibit in New Orleans in 1996 and wanted to do the same in Portland. After Borello got no response from former Chief Charles Moose, Kroeker helped pave the way.

With the chief's and City Council's approval, Borrello recruited 50 artists, including painters, sculptors, architects, photographers, metalsmiths and furniture designers. Once police disabled the guns and dropped them off at Borrello's shop, he distributed them one-by-one to the artists. He let them use their skills and creativity to create an image with parts of the gun or the full weapon.

Borrello said the exhibit is not intended to make a political statement. It's simply intended to provoke discussion.

"It's not about gun control. It's not about being pro-gun. It's just about gun," Borrello said. "It's a tool. It really depends on who's on the other end of it."

Some of the artists, at first, had to be cajoled to participate because they were a little squeamish about working with a firearm. Others, though, had been avid hunters and made sculptures dedicated to their experiences.

"You'll see a correlation in several of the pieces between the guns and more masculine parts of the human anatomy," Borrello told Kroeker and his staff, as he paused in front of one image called "Premature Emasculation," that showed a drooping barrel on a pump shotgun.

Other images did not shy from sending a strong message. A barrel of a shotgun protruded from the top of a Rice Krispies box in one, suggesting the easy availability of guns, Borrello said. In another, called "Media Frenzy," a local architect embedded a sawed-off shotgun into a student's desk, with aluminum bars enveloping the desk.

Borrello was able to show the exhibit at the cultural center after another exhibit planned there for April was canceled. He also will take the exhibit later this month to the Rose City Gun Show at the Expo Center.

Kroeker acknowledged that at first he had been unsure about whether to provide the guns to Borrello for the artwork.

"We were very reluctant at first to put the guns out there -- who knows where they'd end up," Kroeker said. "But I think it's outstanding that we've been able to contribute to the art community."