B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
21 October 2023
opening on Friday,
15 September, 6-8pm
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
15 September - 21 October 2023
We are pleased to announce Melvin Edwards’s second solo exhibition with Galerie Buchholz in Berlin. For this exhibition, Melvin Edwards produced new works on site at the gallery that include barbed wire (B wire, as the artist calls it), as well as chains in metal and wood.
Edwards began to use barbed wire and chains for his sculptural installations in the late 1960s. In 1970, he showed four of these works in an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the first solo exhibition by an African-American sculptor at that institution. In the new sculptures and installations shown at Galerie Buchholz, Melvin Edwards renegotiated motifs and formal strategies from this earlier time. Alongside these pieces, the artist presents a group of works on paper from 1974 and 1982.
Melvin Edwards (born 1937) lives and works in New York. Currently on view at Dia:Beacon is an extensive exhibition focused exclusively on Melvin Edwards’s works with barbed wire and chains.
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor and ink on paper
50.8 x 66 cm
(framed: 54.2 x 69.3 x 3.5 cm)
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor and ink on paper
50.8 x 66 cm
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Maquette (Curtain on Possibility), 1970 - 2023
painted wood, hooks, mirrors, barbed wire, metal chain, 2 glass bottles, glass, spoon
133 x 227 x 96 cm
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 2023
wooden hat form, wooden plate
18.5 x 15.5 x 19 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
Untitled, 2023
wood discs, metal chains, spray paint, snap hook, metal hook, bolt, two nuts
21 x 23 x 24 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 2023
wooden hat form, wooden plate
18.5 x 15.5 x 19 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 2023
wooden hat form, wooden plate
18.5 x 15.5 x 19 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
detail
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 2023
wood discs, metal chains, spray paint, snap hook, metal hook, bolt, two nuts
21 x 23 x 24 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 2023
wood discs, metal chains, spray paint, snap hook, metal hook, bolt, two nuts
21 x 23 x 24 cm
plinth: 155 x 23 x 25 cm
detail
Melvin Edwards
Variation X, 1973 - 2023
3 cots, spray paint, metal chains, padlock, bolts, nuts, chain sockets, barbed wire strings, wood sticks, fabric
installation dimensions variable
detail
Melvin Edwards
Variation X, 1973 - 2023
3 cots, spray paint, metal chains, padlock, bolts, nuts, chain sockets, barbed wire strings, wood sticks, fabric
installation dimensions variable
detail
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor, ink and spray paint on paper
48.5 x 64.5 cm
(framed: 53 x 68 x 3.5 cm)
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor, ink and spray paint on paper
48.5 x 64.5 cm
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Variation X, 1973 - 2023
3 cots, spray paint, metal chains, padlock, bolts, nuts, chain sockets, barbed wire strings, wood sticks, fabric
installation dimensions variable
detail
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Variation X, 1973 - 2023
3 cots, spray paint, metal chains, padlock, bolts, nuts, chain sockets, barbed wire strings, wood sticks, fabric
installation dimensions variable
detail
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled (Belgian Congo), 2019 - 2023
barbed wire, 4 pairs of gloves, spray paint, clothes pegs, metal hooks
installation dimensions variable
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled (Tribute to Benin), 2000
wood, paint, screws, connecting metal plates, nails
wall sculpture: 94 x 31 x 35 cm
floor sculpture: 31 x 72 x 91 cm
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled (Tribute to Benin), 2000
wood, paint, screws, connecting metal plates, nails
wall sculpture: 94 x 31 x 35 cm
floor sculpture: 31 x 72 x 91 cm
detail
Melvin Edwards
Untitled (Tribute to Benin), 2000
wood, paint, screws, connecting metal plates, nails
wall sculpture: 94 x 31 x 35 cm
floor sculpture: 31 x 72 x 91 cm
detail
Melvin Edwards
Untitled (Tribute to Benin), 2000
wood, paint, screws, connecting metal plates, nails
wall sculpture: 94 x 31 x 35 cm
floor sculpture: 31 x 72 x 91 cm
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 1969 - 2023
3 rusted metal chains
Ø 66 cm (height approx. 8 cm)
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, 1982
spray paint and graphite on paper
76.5 x 101.5 cm
Melvin Edwards
B WIRE, BEWARE, ALL WAYS ART
Steel, Paper & Paint
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Now’s the Time, 1970 - 2023
saxophone, two metal chains, snap hooks, nail, barbed wires, hooks
installation dimensions variable
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
(framed: 61.7 x 92.7 x 3.5 cm)
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
(framed: 61.7 x 92.7 x 3.5 cm)
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
(framed: 61.7 x 92.7 x 3.5 cm)
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
spray paint on paper
58.4 x 88.9 cm
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor, ink and spray paint on paper
45.7 x 61 cm
(framed: 49.3 x 64.3 x 3.5 cm)
installation view
Galerie Buchholz, Berlin 2023
Melvin Edwards
Untitled, c. 1974
watercolor, ink and spray paint on paper
45.7 x 61 cm