Mike Hewson
Fountains
3 East St
09 February — 23 March 2024
Information
Mike Hewson, Fountains, 2024, Installation view, Michael Lett 3 East St
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2 (detail), 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Worker’s Chair Water-Cooler (detail), 2024, Boiler-maker’s smoko chair, GFRP grate, old hose, filtered and chilled water tap, plumbed components, 830 × 560 × 540 mm
Mike Hewson, Worker’s Chair Water-Cooler, 2024, Boiler-maker’s smoko chair, GFRP grate, old hose, filtered and chilled water tap, plumbed components, 830 × 560 × 540 mm
Mike Hewson, Buckets Bubbler #2, 2024, Heritage sandstone, honed concrete block, MDPE heavy-duty buckets, structural steel, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plumbed components, 990 × 795 × 325 mm
Mike Hewson, Buckets Bubbler #2 (detail), 2024, Heritage sandstone, honed concrete block, MDPE heavy-duty buckets, structural steel, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plumbed components, 990 × 795 × 325 mm
Mike Hewson, Pimped Waste-pump Bubbler, 2024, Hydraulic pump system and frame, bronze and stainless steel welding, hydraulic hose, load-skate, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plastic dog’s bowl, sliced plastic container, bungee cords, hose pipe 1280 × 10500 × 420 mm
Mike Hewson, Pimped Waste-pump Bubbler (detail), 2024, Hydraulic pump system and frame, bronze and stainless steel welding, hydraulic hose, load-skate, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plastic dog’s bowl, sliced plastic container, bungee cords, hose pipe 1280 × 10500 × 420 mm
Mike Hewson, Plant-based Drip-catcher, 2024, Yellow micro-fibre cloth, reinforced marble sheet, drip from ceiling, drip-catching plant, ceramic tray, rubber tyres 400 x 1050 x 1305 mm (table)
Mike Hewson, Plant-based Drip-catcher, 2024, Yellow micro-fibre cloth, reinforced marble sheet, drip from ceiling, drip-catching plant, ceramic tray, rubber tyres 400 x 1050 x 1305 mm (table)
Mike Hewson, Fountain #1 (detail), 2024, HDPE lid, Sydney chimney, core drill bit, left-over fixtures and materials, structural steel, water-feature pump, metal bucket, plumbed components, 1150 × 500 × 353 mm
Mike Hewson, Fountain #1, 2024, HDPE lid, Sydney chimney, core drill bit, left-over fixtures and materials, structural steel, water-feature pump, metal bucket, plumbed components, 1150 × 500 × 353 mm
Mike Hewson, Fountains, 2024, Installation view, Michael Lett 3 East St
Mike Hewson
Fountains
3 East St
09 February — 23 March 2024
Fountains is a solo presentation of work by Sydney-based artist Mike Hewson. Operating where fine art and engineering come together, this series of sculptures is a playful exploration of what exactly is needed to sustain life, and what ingenious, imaginative solutions might look like.
What is the purpose of an art gallery? In Fountains, Hewson proposes it can provide hydration on demand or lend itself to a game of basketball. Thanks to Marcel Duchamp, the fountain has been fodder for conceptual art for more than a century. In this instance, Hewson has installed plumbed and fully-functional drinking fountains in the space of an art gallery. These have been built from: custom-moulded, extra heavy-duty plastic buckets, reused building materials and leftover materials hoarded from past public projects. The centre-piece of the exhibition is Palm Hoop, an NBA regulation net, hoop and backboard clamped to an up-rooted palm tree. Its fragile root system wrapped in plastic, the tree is tensioned down with heavy-duty strapping.
Originally trained as a civil engineer before heading to art school, Hewson applies his expertise and technical know-how to this large-scale exhibition. Fountains uses a vocabulary taken from public facilities and utilities in order to explore basic needs, survival and what is needed to sustain life, whether it be hydration, sport and recreation or installation art. For Fountains, an intriguing range of materials is employed, from a living entity, to mass-produced sporting equipment, to architectural infrastructure, to re-purposed waste materials.
Michael Lett 3 East St is housed in an historic building which was formerly home to a Samoan Baptist Church and a Methodist Meeting Hall. With Fountains, Hewson re-imagines the building as a playful site for experimentation, one that runs the gamut with a range of approaches, from the functional, to the artistic and from the conceptual to the experiential.
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Mike Hewson is a visual artist with a background in structural engineering and heavy-civil construction. His award-winning projects pioneer new ways to merge conceptual art projects into the public realm.
Hewson works to prove we can, in fact, do things that are considered untenable in a public setting. Each project aims to catalyse fresh conversation about how the bureaucratic and managerial aspects of power are shaping our public lives, asking if we like that shape or if we’d like to consider other options.
Recent projects include: Aussie Crocs!, Aotearoa Art Fair, Auckland (2023); Rocks on Wheels, Southbank, Melbourne (2022); Pockets Park, Leichhart, Sydney (2022); Palm Hoop #1, Alexandria, Sydney (2021); St Peters Fences, Simpson Park, Sydney (2020); Block Stack VIC 3977, Cranbourne, Melbourne (2019) and Hewson Clad V 1.0, The Physics Room, Ōtautahi, Christchurch (2018).
He is has completed five large-scale public art commissions in Australia, many of them are sculpture-park-cum-playgrounds. Hewson received a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand, in 2007 and a Master of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) from Columbia University, New York in 2016.
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Mike Hewson, Fountains, 2024, Installation view, Michael Lett 3 East St
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2 (detail), 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Palm Hoop #2, 2024, Regulation basketball hoop and frame, half-sheet onyx stone, pigmented adhesive, engineered glass, galvanised structural steel, Livistona australis (palm), filtered and chilled water tap, rigging, basketball, 8000 × 3900 × 4000 mm (installed dimensions)
Mike Hewson, Worker’s Chair Water-Cooler (detail), 2024, Boiler-maker’s smoko chair, GFRP grate, old hose, filtered and chilled water tap, plumbed components, 830 × 560 × 540 mm
Mike Hewson, Worker’s Chair Water-Cooler, 2024, Boiler-maker’s smoko chair, GFRP grate, old hose, filtered and chilled water tap, plumbed components, 830 × 560 × 540 mm
Mike Hewson, Buckets Bubbler #2, 2024, Heritage sandstone, honed concrete block, MDPE heavy-duty buckets, structural steel, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plumbed components, 990 × 795 × 325 mm
Mike Hewson, Buckets Bubbler #2 (detail), 2024, Heritage sandstone, honed concrete block, MDPE heavy-duty buckets, structural steel, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plumbed components, 990 × 795 × 325 mm
Mike Hewson, Pimped Waste-pump Bubbler, 2024, Hydraulic pump system and frame, bronze and stainless steel welding, hydraulic hose, load-skate, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plastic dog’s bowl, sliced plastic container, bungee cords, hose pipe 1280 × 10500 × 420 mm
Mike Hewson, Pimped Waste-pump Bubbler (detail), 2024, Hydraulic pump system and frame, bronze and stainless steel welding, hydraulic hose, load-skate, filtered and chilled water bubbler, plastic dog’s bowl, sliced plastic container, bungee cords, hose pipe 1280 × 10500 × 420 mm
Mike Hewson, Plant-based Drip-catcher, 2024, Yellow micro-fibre cloth, reinforced marble sheet, drip from ceiling, drip-catching plant, ceramic tray, rubber tyres 400 x 1050 x 1305 mm (table)
Mike Hewson, Plant-based Drip-catcher, 2024, Yellow micro-fibre cloth, reinforced marble sheet, drip from ceiling, drip-catching plant, ceramic tray, rubber tyres 400 x 1050 x 1305 mm (table)
Mike Hewson, Fountain #1 (detail), 2024, HDPE lid, Sydney chimney, core drill bit, left-over fixtures and materials, structural steel, water-feature pump, metal bucket, plumbed components, 1150 × 500 × 353 mm
Mike Hewson, Fountain #1, 2024, HDPE lid, Sydney chimney, core drill bit, left-over fixtures and materials, structural steel, water-feature pump, metal bucket, plumbed components, 1150 × 500 × 353 mm
Mike Hewson, Fountains, 2024, Installation view, Michael Lett 3 East St