If you ever wondered what possessed the Renaissance sculptors to think they could make a hunk of hard marble look like flowing silk, you might want to find Evan Reed. Reed’s first solo exhibit in D.C., New & Recent Sculptures, at Flashpoint, however, represents a much different class, as his modern-day equivalent turns rough, corrugated tin into bird feathers, braided ropes, and rumpled jersey shirts. While Michelangelo used the finest stone and worked for the uber-wealthy, Reed salvaged old barn roofing materials from his parent’s property and used them to pay tribute to working men in overalls and harvesting tools.

Reed’s rather literal subjects teeter on the peak of a slippery slope to kitsch. Herald (pictured) could easily be a quaint front door hanging, if it were carved out of wood and painted festive autumnal colors. Even LA, a life-size sculpture featuring a man clad in overalls, standing in a canoe and hanging onto a bird in flight with a rope that’s tied to its feet, could be minaturized and put on the shelf of a road-side gift shop in Podunk, Oklahoma. Yet, Reed’s ingenious use of materials saves each of these pieces from a terrible craft-store fate.