M
elvin Edwards’ 4 Day (from Lynch Fragments series) embodies the artist’s decades-long investment in exploring themes of African-American history, politics, and oppression through a mastery of metalwork. The series spans three periods: the early 1960s, when Edwards responded to racial violence in the United States; the early 1970s, when his activism concerning the Vietnam War motivated him to return to the series; and from 1978 to the present, when he began honoring individuals, exploring notions of nostalgia, and investigating his personal interest in African culture. Edwards welds scraps of found metal to create new forms, and the sculptures’ implicit threat of violence derives in part from the chains, nails, and other tools of which they are constructed. Abstracting these familiar objects through assemblage, Edwards’ synthesis of painting and sculpture challenges perception and prompts the viewer to reflect upon layered symbols of brutality.
