Weapon Type

The mighty pen gets an update from a Canada-based sculptor.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

The mighty pen gets an update from a Canada-based sculptor.

My Reading Room

Guns are to warfare what typewriters to writing: One changed the war, and the other, communications. Montreal-based artist and sculptor Eric Nado has married the two his eye-catching reconstructive art series, Typewriter Guns. “gun” is a reconstruction of a typewriter and every series (of eight typewriters) he undertakes take up to two months to complete.

“Each typewriter gun is specific to the original typewriter it sprang from,” Nado tells The Peak. “Colours are preserved and the results are uniquely different.” His works have gone down well with private collectors. But the series’ pertinence, he says, in more than a nostalgia trip.

“In a collective way, typewriters are strong symbols of literature, freedom of speech and the press. They remind us of the power of the written word. Once transformed into an arsenal, to many, the typewriter guns become sort of social commentary words being stronger than arms.”

TEXT LIAO XIANGJUN