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    Review: Melvin Edwards Redefines Modernist Sculpture

    There is magic in the reused, genius in the constructed, grace found in steel.  Melvin Edwards, an African American artist who has been making steel sculptures of all sizes for five decades, is redefining our dust-collected definition of modernist sculpture in his enormous exhibition Melvin Edwards: Five Decades at the Columbus Museum of Art.

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    The complexity of Melvin Edwards works rings far beyond the somewhat small reputation of the prolific artist.  Edwards, whose life reads as a history book, was born in Texas in the 1930s and in the 1960s found himself wrapped in the Civil Rights movement in LA.  Today, he splits his time between Senegal and the US and this personal history adds context to his exhibition.

    A set of five enormous works, secluded in their own gallery within the exhibition, are at the crux of Edwards’ oeuvre.

    Some Bright Morning (Lynch Fragment) 1963 by Melvin Edwards
    Lynch Fragment 1963 by Melvin Edwards

    Of these five, Curtain for William and Peter, the first or the last of the five works the viewer might encounter depending on how one navigates the exhibition, is astounding.  Titled after two painters Edwards shared his studio with for some time, the work consists of large strands of barbed wire, hung at equal increments from the ceiling of the gallery and spanning nearly the entire length of the space.  The wires are suspended just above the gallery floor and pulled taut by a ruffle of glinted silver chains which add visual flavor to the work.  The environmental sculpture is gauzy and unobtrusively divides the gallery space for the viewer.  The subtle beauty of the shiny wire, and the simultaneous brutality that material invokes, is a tension which fuels most of Edwards’ work.

    Curtain for William and Peter, as with the other four works in that space, are part of a contentious series Edwards originally created in 1969 and 1970 for his solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.  Notably, his exhibition was the first solo show of an African American Sculptor at the museum.

    The profound history lesson that Edwards suggests in his works is teased out in his enormously successful series titled Lynch Fragments.  These relatively small scale sculptures, which are mounted on the wall exactly at eye level so that they are both passive and dangerous, are made of various steel materials welded together.  One might find a weapon or a farming tool in the mix.  An occasional chain hangs gracefully from the nearly alien-looking work.  Nearly all objects used as raw material in the Lynch Fragments series are abstracted beyond quick recognition.

    Whispers
    Whispers (Lynch Fragment) 1991-1992

    Some Bright Morning (Lynch Fragment) and Whispers (Lynch Fragment) are examples of the series which Edwards would revisit most often in his career.  Separated by nearly thirty years, these works are strikingly similar in their orchestration of familiar objects, to the point that they are abstracted, alien, and therefore emit a somewhat threatening presence.  These works also prove that Edwards is a formalist, a master of composition; his strange angles emerging from the mounts of welded steel at just the right position.

    Edwards has rejected any overt visual connection to lynchings or their aftermath with the Lynch Fragments series, but their small scale, abstracted shapes, and sharp points – which are at times intrusive and threatening – suggest a history of brutality which weaves Edwards’ works together.

    On display, in addition to his Whitney series and Lynch Fragments, is a vast array of Edwards’ work.  This includes drawings from rarely seen sketchbooks to large-scale public sculptures, and an interesting series of precariously balanced rockers like Ame Eghan (Rocker) which will leave the viewer breathlessly tiptoeing around the gallery hoping to not be the one to knock the work over.

    Melvin Edwards: Five Decades is a beautifully orchestrated and stunning exhibition of a brilliant artist’s work.  You can see the show at the Columbus Museum of Art through May 8.  For more information visit columbusmuseum.org.

    Full credits:
    Melvin Edwards
    Ame Eghan (Rocker), 1975
    Welded steel
    12 ½ x 19 ½ x 19 ½ inches (31.8 x 49.5 x 49.5 cm)
    Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
    © 2015 Melvin Edwards / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
    Photo: Jeffrey Sturges

    Melvin Edwards
    Some Bright Morning (Lynch Fragment), 1963
    Welded steel
    14 ¼ x 9 ¼ x 5 inches (36.2 x 23.5 x 12.7 cm)
    Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
    © 2015 Melvin Edwards / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
    Photo: Jeffrey Sturges

    Melvin Edwards
    Whispers (Lynch Fragment), 1991-92
    Welded steel
    16 x 19 x 11 ¾ inches (40.6 x 48.3 x 29.9 cm)
    Courtesy of the Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan
    © 2015 Melvin Edwards / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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    Liz Trapp
    Liz Trapp
    Liz Trapp is an art & fashion historian and artist in Columbus, Ohio. She is Associate Professor of the History of Art & Visual Culture at Columbus College of Art & Design where she specializes in contemporary art and the history of fashion.
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