melvin edwards

Melvin “Mel” Edwards is a contemporary artist, teacher, and abstract steel metal sculptor living and working in New York and Dakar, Senegal. As a pioneer of contemporary African-American art, Edwards is celebrated for his sculptures and three-dimensional installations made from barbed wire, welded steel, chain, and other machinery parts. His work is categorized by his ability to create a visual language of modern sculpture while engaging with the history of abstraction. 

Edwards’ artwork is rife with social and political turmoil, often referencing African American history and artifacts and exploring themes of slavery, ​​protest, and social injustice. He is perhaps best known for his Lynch Fragment series, which he worked on from 1963 -1967. The series consisted of medium-scale abstract welded reliefs composed of chains, nails, spikes, bolts, and similar utilitarian tools and objects. Although the works in the series were non-figurative, the metal objects and the titles of individual works refer to the hard physical labor and history of brutality against the black bodies.

“Our collaboration began in the print studio in 2005 and continues today as a partnership that is both creatively and intellectually stimulating. We produced numerous editions with Edwards and with those editions supported the commission of a major sculpture commission for the Lafayette College campus. His passion for art, creative thinking, and numerous telling allowed him to bring an energy and dynamism into the conceptualization of his work and his art-making process.” - Curlee Raven Holton

Edwards received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1965. During breaks from USC, he attended the Los Angeles County Art Institute (known as Otis College of Art and Design) to study sculpture with Renzo Fenci. Additionally, he was mentored by Hungarian American painter Francis de Erdely and studied under Hal Gebhardt, Hans Burkhardt, and Edward Ewing. 

His work is featured in many prominent collections internationally, including ​​the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Texas.