Through the Lens of Rauschenberg: Leslie Hewitt

Discover a new perspective on Robert Rauschenberg in this engaging talk and tour led by contemporary artist Leslie Hewitt. Best known for his mixed-media works, Rauschenberg also had a deep relationship with photography. Through the Lens of Rauschenberg invites visiting photographers to lead thoughtful conversations that explore their perspectives on his work. Light bites will be provided, and drinks will be available at the MCNY Bar. 

About the Speaker: 

Working with photography, sculpture, and site-specific installations, Leslie Hewitt addresses fluid notions of time. Her work oscillates between the illusionary potential of photography and the physical weight of sculpture. In her photographed arrangements, she isolates personal ephemera and the residue of mass culture to consider the fragile nature of quotidian life. 

Hewitt studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Yale University School of Art, and at New York University, where she was a Clark Fellow in the Africana and Visual Culture Studies programs. She was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and the recipient of the 2008 Art Matters research grant to the Netherlands. A selection of recent and forthcoming exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem; Artists Space in New York; Project Row Houses in Houston; and LA > < ART in Los Angeles. Hewitt has held residencies at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the American Academy in Berlin, Germany amongst others. 

Hewitt was part of the faculty at Barnard College in the department of Art History from  2012 - 2017, where she was actively engaged in the development of the Harlem Semester partnering with the Studio Museum in Harlem. She was a faculty member at The Cooper Union, School of Art from 2017 - 2022, where she co-organized the Intra-Disciplinary Seminar/Public Lecture series with curator/writer Omar Barrada and was involved in the formation of The Augusta Savage Colloquium. 

She is associate professor of art at Rice University, School of Humanities, Department of Art. 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.