Kotoko, 1994
Welded Steel, Paint, 16" x 11" x 8"
Melvin Edwards was born on May 4, 1937 in Houston Texas. He received a B.A. from University of Southern California, and went on to teach at Rutgers University in 1972. He focused his teaching in sculpture, drawing and Third World artists. He now lives in New York City and is represented by Alexander Gray Associates. His most well-known work is “Lynch Fragments” which was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. Edwards has had solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the L. A. County Museum, Los Angeles, California, and the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey. A 30-year retrospective of his sculpture was held in 1993 at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York. Several of his works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the Museum of Modem Art, New York City, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, and the L. A. County Museum, Los Angeles, California.