Edwards’s own career is a testament to the difficulty of making figurative sculpture after abstraction’s triumph,both as a stylistic orthodoxy and a visual language for conveying sentiments that might seem kitsch or old hat if embodied in a recognisable image. But there’s an abstract kitsch as well,as when a predictable geometric form is used to represent world peace,the unity of all peoples,or a similarly Disneyfied concept.
Edwards spent most of his student years learning how to make abstract metal sculptures,working with the master of the genre,Antony Caro. To start moulding figures in clay and casting them in bronze,was to risk being relegated to a byway of the art profession.
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Having studied bronze-casting in India and Nepal,Edwards returned to England to start his own foundry,using only the most basic technology. Over the years he has developed his casting skills to the point where he can reproduce fine details such as twigs,reeds,grass,and rope. His method of working is vigorous and spontaneous,leaving the imprint of his hands and fingers in the bronze.
Edwards’s subject is always the figure,specifically the male figure:a bald,hulking,brutish character that seems to belong to prehistoric times. These figures look as if they have just extracted themselves from the primordial bog. They struggle to lift their heavy,muddy feet from the earth.
The centrepiece of the exhibition isMen Walking,a suite of five figures,each of them 240-250 cms tall,that conjures instant associations with Rodin’sThe Burghers of Calais (1884-89). Yet where Rodin clustered his six figures and made great play with their robes,Edwards has set his heavy-set,scantily clad men in motion.
The first man walks purposefully forward,his head lowered,his arm out in front. The ones that follow are more hesitant,each of them turning to look over their right shoulder,as if they have just heard something in the distance. The final member of the group is standing still,completely absorbed in this unidentified distraction.
This creates a sense of drama that creeps up on us,as we study each figure in turn,then the disposition of the group. We don’t know if these men are fleeing some battle or disaster,or walking towards one. They may be refugees or aggressors.
The objects they carry give no clues,being mainly small pieces of wood that wouldn’t serve as weapons or kindling. There’s also an archetypal dimension,as the walking man is a scuptural motif that stretches from the ancient Egyptians to Giacometti and beyond.
Another piece standing taller than two metres isMan of Stones(2022). Bald,apparently middle-aged,this otherwise naked figure carries a heavy load of stones and bones draped around his neck,cascading down his torso. A series of smaller figures clutch bundles of sticks,or outrageous burdens that extend horizontally like a set of wings encrusted with debris.
The catalogue notes that one of them,After the flood,took on a new significance for the artist when he heard about the catastrophic floods in northern NSW. Perhaps Edwards’sWalking Men are more contemporary than they seem - not creatures of the unfathomable past,but the ecological apocalypse to come.
Laurence Edwards:A Gathering of Uncertainties is at the Orange Regional Gallery until April 16.
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