Since moving to Montparnasse in 2021, Edwardes attended the illustrious and revolutionary Académie de la Grande Chaumière, joining alumni such as Joan Miró and Louise Bourgeois. There Edwardes has worked under the tutelage of portrait artist Bertrand Desmaricaux and sculptor Arestakes Nevcheherlian. Over the year, her work transitioned from abstraction to figuration, first inspired by an increasing intimacy with the work of Auguste Rodin, a shift captured in this exhibition.
Edwardes began an in-depth study of the work of Auguste Rodin, aided by her proximity to the Musée Rodin. Edwardes produced sculpture studies initially with charcoal and then with acrylic using two-tonal colour motifs. While studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, she explored working from life and was captivated by the transition of life onto paper. Resulting from these influences, her new series features surreal figures developed from her own sculpture.
Edwardes aims through this work to study the transition of a subject through different forms from imagination to sculpture. Inspired by the fragile forms of a murmuration of starlings, Fragility looks to capture the fleeting presence of a collective form. Movement and power is twisted into the work, creating a conscious presence, giving life to the otherwise static form. In introducing female elements to the piece Edwardes comments on the fragility of reproductive rights and female power, triggered both by the danger to Roe vs Wade and her own experiences in academia.
‘This exhibition is all about transitions – sometimes we undergo radical and intrinsic change, either in thought, feeling or situation whether intentionally or not. In art we are always mirroring those transitions, whether it’s from life to paper, movement to sculpture or a feeling into painted form. What fascinates me is how between mediums and forms, different aspects of movement or feeling are highlighted, breathing life into the work.
As I was creating Fragility, the potential overturn of Roe vs Wade was leaked. Under my fingers the form became increasingly feminine, as I unconsciously processed the thread by which millions of women held onto their power and autonomy.’
Esther Edwardes
