Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Melvin "Mel" Edwards (born May 4, 1937) is an American abstract sculptor, printmaker, and arts educator. Edwards, an African-American artist, was raised in segregated communities in Texas and an integrated community in Ohio. He moved to California in 1955, beginning his professional art career while an undergraduate student. Originally trained as a painter, Edwards began exploring sculpture and welding techniques in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, before moving again to New York in 1967. Edwards is best known for his Lynch Fragments sculptures, a series of small, abstract steel assemblage sculptures made with spikes, scissors, chains, and other small metal objects welded together into wall reliefs, which he first began making in 1963. In addition to their titular reference to lynching, these works have been described by the artist as metaphors for the struggles and successes of African Americans living in the United States. He is also known for his minimalist sculptural environments built with strands of barbed wire and chain beginning in the late 1960s; his kinetic Rockers sculptures, painted metal works built on discs that can rock back and forth; and his monumental outdoor sculptures, often characterized by the use of straight-edged triangular, circular, and rectangular metal forms along with oversized chain motifs. Edwards has also worked extensively in printmaking, beginning in college and continuing throughout his career. While Edwards's art is primarily abstract, his works often contain explicit references to African-American and African history as well as contemporary politics and events in their titles and underlying materials. Edwards has mounted more than a dozen solo exhibitions in museums and galleries across the United States and internationally. In 1970, he was the first African-American sculptor to receive a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York. Following a period of decline in attention from curators and critics in New York in the late 1970s and 1980s, Edwards's art was included in several high-profile national and international exhibitions in the 2000s and 2010s, leading to an increase in recognition of his work both within the art world and more broadly. Edwards has also taught art in several universities across the country, including a 30-year teaching career at Rutgers University, from which he retired in 2002. He lives and works between upstate New York, New Jersey, and Senegal.
Wikidata
Q3305305
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Getty record
Introduction
Melvin Edwards is an African-American sculptor who was born in Houston, Texas. His work consists mainly of metal outdoor sculpture. He was educated at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Nationalities
American, African American
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Educator, Teacher, Painter, Sculptor
Names
Melvin Edwards, Mel Edwards, Melvin E. Edwards
Ulan
500108626
Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

11 works online

Exhibitions

Publications

  • MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art Flexibound, 408 pages
  • MoMA Now: Highlights from The Museum of Modern Art—Ninetieth Anniversary Edition Hardcover, 424 pages
  • Among Others: Blackness at MoMA Hardcover, 488 pages
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