To find a union of metal and the printed page as rich and tactile as that created by Andrew Hayes, we have to hark back to the days of hot metal typesetting or farther still to the chained library.
As a Core Fellow at Penland School of Crafts, Andrew Hayes explored a variety of materials and technique, drawing on his experience in Portland, Oregon as a welder and his work with fabricated steel as a student at Northern Arizona University. At Penland, the book insinuated itself in this exploration, and his work today joins the rigidity of metal with the delicacy of the book page.
Steel, book pages, and brass
10” x 7” x 9”
Andrew Hayes, 2013
This codex is almost Dali-esque in its appearance. Its title seems to allude to the thumb index, and the fluid shape that distorts the indexed pages is a paradoxical cast on that title. As a work of art in the age of digital reproduction, it offers a slippery tale.
Further items:
“in medias res … Andrew Hayes”, Books On Books, 6 May 2015.
David, Rachel. Meta-Formations: Experiments and Rituals (New Orlean, LA: Red Metal, 2019).
Townsend, Eileen. “‘Tributaries: Andrew Hayes’ at the Metal Museum”, Memphis Flyer, 23 January 2014. Accessed 2 September 2019.
Young, Meghan. “Book page sculptures, Trendhunter, 9 August 2013. Accessed 2 September 2019.
Books On Books 