Christopher Hewat : Brass

From July 10 through August 11, 2008, The Drawing Room in East Hampton is pleased to present an installation of reflective brass sculptures of books and familiar cultural artifacts by Christopher Hewat. Fabricated by hand and soldered from brass sheet metal, this personal inventory of treasured objects includes a disc of Handel’s arias, a drawing tablet with eraser, protractor and pencil, a burned copy of Keats’ poetry, and a miniature folding screen incised with geometric drawings. Sparkling with the warm glow particular to brass, Hewat’s iconic memories of real objects remind us of the pleasures of reading and artistic pastimes so vulnerable in our digital era.

Inspired by literature, scientific discovery, the visual arts and favorite pastimes like games and drawing, Hewat recreates his own library of beloved texts as well as the very tools and materials of artistic practices. In doing so, he immortalizes the tactile qualities of the original objects, conjuring up both the humble presence and weight in our hands of treasured books, drawing tablets, chocolates and scrabble letters. Rarely used in the history of Western sculpture except by Constantin Brancusi, the luminous, gold-hued medium of brass is here transformed into the platonic forms of a connoisseur’s book collection. 

This unique installation conceived for The Drawing Room is one of several Hewat has created for specific gallery, museum and library rooms. In 2007 he installed a room at The New Britain Museum with 160 brass books in a remarkable project that paid tribute to the great texts in the western canon. Hewat, who lives and works on a farm in rural Connecticut, acknowledges the influence the history and architecture of his village have had on his work. In particular, a rare bookstore and the 18th century cemetery have inspired sculpture in stone, wood and for the last ten years, brass.

See below for full press release and selected works.