Charles Lewton-Brain RCA | Retrospective

×

Expand

Charles Lewton-Brain RCA, “Wabi (India) Bracele (detail),” 2017

steel, copper electroforming, 24k gold electroforming, 3.25 x 1 inches (courtesy of the Artist)

Exhibition Reception with artist in attendance: Saturday, 20 April 2024, 3 to 5 pm.

"This career exhibition is a rare survey of different periods of my work, with examples from my student days up through the present.  It is a chance to see my research and design experimentation in the light of time. Carefully selected by Susan and Tom these works are a deep insight into my process, my interest in drawing, in exploring the tension between nature and structure.

My work is about drawing, about mark making with material and about the tension between nature and structure. It is about culture, the restrictions we self-impose and choose, about being witness and aware. And then there is the teaching, a living dance between minds."

Charles’s jewellery and sculptural work is concerned with showing process; by including the tracks or marks of the working process as compositional elements he is able to visually map the inherent history of each work.  His work is a type of ‘drawing’ using expressive systems of mark-making derived from metal working processes.  He strives to make very clear decisions about levels of effects or procedures upon the work and often assigns symbolic values to the materials and procedures he uses.  Function and beauty remain integral to his intent.  By extending the medium, allowing for random acts and chaos, he pushes boundaries in order to reach for the ‘pure’ process that allows the ‘rules to show-up’ revealing the tension between structure and nature.