Posada: Red Tack 2001

Curator: Charles Hewitt’s “Posada: Red Tack” presents us with a stark visual of hands, rendered in etching, with a vivid red tack as a focal point. Editor: The high contrast and exaggerated forms give it a distinctly unsettling mood. Is this a commentary on the laboring class, perhaps? Curator: Given Hewitt’s interest in social justice, I think it's hard to ignore the symbol of piercing, and the potential reading of exploitation or oppression. Editor: Perhaps, but also note the composition; the hand holding the tack is rendered with more clarity than the other, lending a sense of agency and control. Curator: I see your point. The interplay suggests a negotiation of power. Perhaps it is about the tools we wield, and how they can both wound and create. Editor: Precisely. The starkness, in the end, leaves us pondering the complexities of action and consequence.