May 2013

MoNA Gallery in Charlotte, NC, Features Works by Andrew Hayes

MoNA Gallery in Charlotte, NC, will present andrew hayes: metal bound, on view from May 2 through June 29, 2013. A reception will be held on May 3, from 6-10pm.

When Andrew Hayes decides which books to purchase at a thrift store, he doesn’t bother opening them. The words inside have no bearing for Hayes; it’s the edges of the pages he’s interested in.

Once he’s back in his Asheville, NC, studio, Hayes will cut up the book and experiment by bending it into different shapes. “The mass of pages is so appealing and flexible in a way I wish steel were,” he says. Once he finds a shape he particularly likes, he uses metal to bind it into place.

Hayes has been exacting and perfecting his unique approach, working for a time as a welder - “I wanted to make sure metal-working abilities would not interfere with my concept,” he says.

A 2007 fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina gave Hayes the freedom he needed to focus exclusively on his art.

There is so much that appeals to Hayes about books: the history, the smell, the tactile reaction of fingers to the pages. He wants his pieces to whisper, not scream. “I’m trying to accomplish quietness in my work,” he says. “I hope to stop a person for a second.”

Hayes’s work is available at several galleries, including Blue Spiral in Asheville, NC, the Gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR, Rebus Works in Raleigh, NC, and now here at MoNA Gallery in Charlotte.

For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 704/970-9676 or visit (www.monacharlotte.com).

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