Melvin Edwards
Fragments and Shadows, 2001
Signed and dated lower right
Stencil (stenciled cotton rag pulp on linen base sheet and pigment)
21 x 16 inches
Edition 5/20
Provenance
Bill Hodges Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Melvin Edwards was born in Houston in 1937 and moved to Los Angeles in 1955, where he briefly pursued painting at the University of Southern California before turning to sculpture after encountering welding. Steel, valued for its strength and ability to carry traces of history, became his primary medium. By the time he relocated to New York in 1967, he had already introduced his "Lynch Fragments" at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, a series that would remain central to his practice.
The "Lynch Fragments" are compact reliefs composed of industrial and agricultural materials—chains, spikes, hammers, and horseshoes—assembled into works that evoke meaning without literal narrative. Edwards emphasized suggestion over illustration, allowing viewers to engage with layered historical and cultural associations. Over six decades, the series expanded into hundreds of distinct works, each addressing form and memory in different ways.
Edwards’s work developed alongside a vibrant community of artists in New York, including Jack Whitten, Sam Gilliam, Frank Bowling, and William T...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Pigment Prints and Multiples
MaterialsCotton, Linen, Mixed Media, Pigment, Stencil
