Melvin Edwards has been welding sculpture for more than five decades and bearing witness to the continuing history of race relations in the United States. His recent works include incisive new examples of his iconic “Lynch Fragments” series and monumental public projects installed in various locations, including Japan, Senegal, Cuba, and the U.S. Edwards’s interest in architecture and his commitment to abstraction as a meaningful form of expression are manifest in his metal sculptures, large and small alike. A major retrospective, organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and recently on view at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, afforded an oppor- tunity to consider how the later works evince the culmination of a creative life that has produced a powerful body of work and taken Edwards to far-flung locations. These more recent works have links to major themes in Edwards’s career. Many are dedicated to artists known to him …see the entire article in the print version of May’s Sculpture magazine.
