Dan Edwards - Drawings and Recent Work

Drawings & Recent Work

DANIEL EDWARDS

D IRE C TO R ’S FO R E WORD

Daniel Edwards creates works that speak about socio-political topics. Some of these topics can be considered to be very controversial and have created a lot of interest in his work. Edwards subjects are accessed from the internet and other forms of media. Then Edwards uses his vast array of talents, in both practical and digital medias, to create works that he often refers to as being “politically incorrect” monuments and pubic sculptures. This current exhibition is formed from recent work that Edwards created during his recent sabbatical, as well as drawings that are being created in the gallery during the run of this exhibition.

This is the second solo exhibition of Daniel Edwards work that I have had the pleasure of working on, it is with continued amazement that I have watched the evolution of Daniel’s work over the past few years and with continuing refinement of 3-D printing he has taken sculpture to another realm of interest and excitement. For our students and gallery patrons it has been an exceptional experience to be able to watch the development of his powerful and masterful drawings during the course of the exhibition.

I would like to thank the many colleagues that have been instrumental in presenting this exhibition. Daniel Edwards for the chance of exhibiting his work, Brad Peatross of the School of the Ar ts, California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design and Parks Printing for the printing this catalog.

Much gratitude is extended to the Instructionally Related Activates Program of California State University, Stanislaus, as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue. Their suppor t is greatly appreciated.

Dean De Cocker, Gallery Director California State University, Stanislaus

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T H E DR AW I NGS

The drawing por tion of this exhibit was created as an example for the class I teach at CSUS, Drawing the Human Figure from Memory. I am grateful for the opportunity to experiment with drawings on the large walls of the University Art Gallery and to be able to do them in a performative way. I had been teaching elements of figure drawing for decades, but hadn’t made drawings for the sake of ar t since I was a student. Teaching online, due to Covid, I was forced to do more figure drawing demonstrations than I would do in the classroom, since I would typically demonstrate propor tions and anatomy of the figure by sculpting clay models in front of the class. For the online drawing demos, I used a Wacom drawing tablet for the first time with an app created by my friend Tomas Pettersson. I enjoyed demonstrating drawing from my own knowledge of the figure, having freedom from the live model or other references.

Since February or March of 2021, I had planned on giving myself the year to practice drawing the figure from imagination and decided to just concentrate on the male form. I focused on line work because I wanted the work to be drawing and not full of the toning and modeling that moves drawing away from drawing. I struggled with how to think about posing the figure, learning to eliminate foreshor tening and perspective, and slowly moving from action to design. I also knew I didn’t want to create pictures that had scenery, but figural compositions instead.

For most of the time, I had envisioned depicting the 2021 United States Capitol attack of January 6th, looking to depictions of the subject of the Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths for compositional study. Toward this, I realized focusing on no more than two figures at a time was probably the way to star t. Then I shifted away from action poses to poses of composition and design, finding ways for the figures to work with or against each other in ways that didn’t lean in on storytelling so much.

I looked for ways to represent the figure in the manner of a cartoonist – searching for a shor thand and continuity to describe aspects of the figure; learning what to leave in and leave out. I found Luca Cambiaso to be my favorite draughtsman to study, as his figures were done from his head and mostly line drawings – his lines are graceful and dynamic. If he needed more line work in a figure, he didn’t use shading or cross hatching, he just continued to represent more profiles of bone muscle and tendon within the form. I looked at Gil Kane’s spectacular figures, coming to understand that his gift to comics was inventive posing and a faithfulness to anatomy in the way George Bridgman had taught it. The inventive posing of Kane’s figures was helpful for comparing and contrasting with Cambiaso’s academic, renaissance poses. I looked at sculptor Donald De Lue’s drawings for their composition, design, and singularity. As in De Lue’s work, it made sense for me to think of my drawings as design for sculpture since I’ve been a practicing sculptor for my whole career.

Crouching Figure, 6ft x 3ft, graffiti marker 5

Falling Figure, 6ft x 7ft, charcoal 6

Next, I would go through periods of not looking at any work and forcing myself to find my own lines for representing the figure. There would be breakthrough days where out of sheer repetition and speed, I would find ways of representing different areas of the figure that seemed quick, effective and unique to me. At that point, I found myself locked in to ways of drawing that when I looked at other peoples’ work I found it to be interfering with my own understanding of how to depict things. I was needing to rely less on other people’s methods. As I became more self-reliant I found myself being able to work for longer sessions.

I thought I’d try experimenting with graffiti markers, but realized I needed more time for practicing that - I did better with charcoal. I also found that I draw large scale figures comfor tably. The corrective process for larger work feels like the sculpting process.

This experience has expanded my thoughts for how to continue teaching figure drawing and it is my goal to help facilitate a classroom of life-size figure drawing that alternates back and for th from study to imagination throughout the semester.

Prone Figure, 3ft x 7ft, charcoal and graffiti marker 7

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Mural Composition, 6ft x 17ft, graffiti marker 9

Hostile Figure, 6ft x 3ft, charcoal and graffiti marker 10

Fragmented Figure, 6ft x 3ft, graffiti marker 11

Dancing Figure, 11ft x 6ft, charcoal 12

Dying Figure, 11ft x 6ft, charcoal 13

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Dead Figures (Lying in the Street), 6ft x 18ft, charcoal 15

Stretching Figure, 6ft x 4ft, graffiti marker 16

Falling Figure, 6ft x 4ft, graffiti marker 17

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Studies for Street Prometheus Series, 6 ft x 10 ft, india ink on butcher paper 19

Surfer Composition Study, 12in x 9in x 9in, polylactic acid 20

T H E S CU LPT U R E

The sculpture for this exhibit was based on some loose ideas I’d been thinking of from news topics of 2021. Admittedly, the work is dark, but I say that in the context of it being displayed at the University. Compared to what is actually going on in the world and what is being created and put forth these days in movies, music and television, it isn’t dark enough. I was holding back.

The ideas come forward for various reasons, but often they emerge from a sense of portrait possibilities, which was the case with the busts of Kyle Rittenhouse and the QAnon Shaman. The surfing figures were inspired by the tweets and photos of Jonah Hill.

I had been working with my son creating busts to suppor t the BLM movement. Ours was a direct response to the removal of public sculpture and monuments. We were creating sculpture that could replace the removed work, conceptually, vir tually and practically.

With the sculpture in this show, I flipped the script, as they say, and created a couple monuments to villains. There are such things as monuments to villains and infamy. We raised our kids near one such monument in Groton, Connecticut. There is a tall obelisk at For t Griswold and it stands as a sor t of giant middle finger to Benedict Arnold.

As much as anything, the sculpture in this exhibit was meant to demonstrate the state of the ar t in the CSUS sculpture area. The works exhibited were 3D printed and scaled larger than what is typically seen from our 3D printing.

This work was presented as examples of what can be accomplished in the Ar t Depar tment.

PORTRAITS Por traits are my area of emphasis. Regarding my por traiture, it is as simple as this: all of the por traits I do from life are modeled in clay or wax; all of the por traits I make that do not involve life sessions are 3D modeled. The expressiveness I convey through hand-modeled clay and wax is reserved for direct observation of any person or thing I am in the presence of. That work is generally made as art for ar t’s sake – por traiture that is done for posterity. Lifesession portraits are meant to convey the presence with the intention that the viewer can sense the connection between the subject and the ar tist. The viewer is seeing the subject through the eyes of the ar tist. Candid photos convey this very well, and it can be done in clay and wax, too!

With life-session work, I have to step aside as a person and hope my hands can record what I am responding to without filter, and the only thing between me and the subject is the wax or clay – no camera, no computer screen.

I generally do not use subjects of life-sessions to fulfill a concept or statement.

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KYLE RITTENHOUSE Kyle Rittenhouse inspired this question to myself as a por trait artist: “If I had to depict someone who unjustly got away with murdering two people, how would I do it?” The answer is, “with ‘blood’.” So for this project, the ‘blood’ was primary, and the portrait was secondary. The form of Kyle Rittenhouse’s head ultimately served as a ‘canvas’ for splashed red paint.

I appropriated and 3D modeled Rittenhouse’s likeness to convey what I perceived Kyle Rittenhouse to represent: another assault weapon toting teenage boy, who received an acquittal of two murder charges in a way that highlights systemic inequities in the criminal justice system. The key was to present him as boyish-looking as he was; the thick-haired young man with the barbershop haircut and pouty and innocent expression. I did not want my por trait of him to look like a killer. I wanted him to look the opposite of that, the way we might imagine any typical teenage boy to look, which, for me, is the most disturbing par t. I wanted that innocent appearance to contrast with the thick red paint violently splattered on his face as a means to make it indisputably a commentary about a young murderer.

But long after Kyle Rittenhouse is forgotten, if the bust still exists, it might find relevance in representing that time, in which we are currently living, of the American epidemic of teenage boys with assault weapons.

For the student who may question whether the soul of the artist can be visible through the ‘cold’, electronic and mechanical processes of 3D modeling and 3D printing, the answer is “Yes.” The ar tist may connect with the medium in ways that come through in the work, but if that isn’t so evident, then there is always finish and presentation. Dripping red paint on a 3D print is admittedly over-the-top, but it does seem to supersede the tell-tale qualities of the 3D print, which some people find to be too mechanical (not me). I suspect any hand painted method could do the same, even if it is substantially more subtle and tasteful than my example.

White Knight Mascot, 24in x 14in x 12in, polylactic acid 23

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QANON SHAMAN To contribute visual ar t to the historical record regarding January 6th, 2021, the day of the United States Capitol attack, I chose the iconic figure of that day as a subject and created the bust of the QAnon Shaman. The bust was meant to symbolize that day, though this is done in a way that merely mocks Jake Angeli, the Q Shaman. In my depiction of Jake Angeli, I’ve replaced the brazen, smiling face that was amply photographed at the Capitol on January 6th with the more somber expression that was inspired by his jailhouse photos. I replaced the Aryan tattoos on his chest with the tattoo of a car toon cow, to suggest his own appearance of a cow.

Black Day Mascot, 24in x 18in x 18in, polylactic acid and graphite 25

Page 25, left: Surfer Jo, Red, 36in x 36in x 14in, polylactic-acid Surfer Jo, Blue, 36in x 36in x 18in, polylactic acid

Page 25 right Surfer Jo, Yellow, 22in x 26in x 18in, polylactic acid 26

FIGURES The surfing figures were somewhat experimental in their 3D modeled forms. 3D modeling is a tool and like any other tool, the more experience you bring to it, the greater the results and possibilities, but it is also a great entry level ar t medium because the beginner can get reasonable and effective results immediately.

The figures were posable figures I had constructed from spheres in a 3D modeling program called Sculptris, backed up by a software called Meshmixer. Both programs are mostly discontinued or at the end of their run, which is a shame. They had been around for 10 or more years and offered state of the ar t techniques when they were introduced, and for free. I only use free or inexpensive software so that I stay familiar with techniques and software that are affordable for students. Sculptris was invented to be very user friendly for sculptors who were used to working with clay, it is a great transitional app. The 3D modeling software that has since taken the place of apps like Sculptris and Meshmixer seem to be developed for users with hotkey skills rather than traditional clay modeling skills. I think we are seeing the 3D modeling industry redefining itself as a medium separate from traditional sculpture and now catering to younger generations who have never used clay. With the newer 3D modeling software, the learning curve is cumbersome and less connected to actual studio methods and materials, which is problematic for maintaining a cohesion with traditional clay modeling and contemporary 3D modeling techniques.

My goal was to construct posable, anatomical figures in 3D modeling that students without conventional drawing skills could construct. The results worked fine, but the method for constructing the figure is still cumbersome and relies on sensibilities that coincide with traditional drawing skills, like proportion, angles, and placement, even though the technique for the 3D modeled figure construction doesn’t require the same dexterity. The technique of the 3D modeled figure construction is still a relevant way to teach anatomy, and I think it’s advantages and disadvantages are equal to clay modeling for a learning student.

JONAH HILL SURFING Apparently, people were tweeting about his weight loss and he politely asked people to stop talking about his body.

So, out of curiosity, I googled Jonah Hill to see what was up with his body, and found a host of photos of him surfing, which I thought might make for an interesting series of sculpture in regard to figure composition and balance.

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Studies for Black Day Mascot, polylactic acid 28

DA N I EL EDWA R DS C V

E D U C AT I O N 2001

MFA, Drawing and Sculpture, New York Academy of Ar t, New York, NY.

1994

BFA Sculpture, Herron School of Ar t, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN.

1988-90 MFA Program, New York Academy of Ar t, Warhol Scholarship from Estate of Andy Warhol.

PA ST PRO J E C TS Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston, featuring Britney Spears giving bir th on a bearskin rug, is considered an example of appropriating celebrity for political usage in The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st Centur y Consumption (2011), and it appears in the edition of the Oxford University Press text book, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (2009).

Presidential Bust of Hillar y Rodham Clinton: First Woman President of the United States of America, exhibited at the Museum of Sex in New York in 2006, is featured in Debra Mancoff ’s Icons of Beauty: Art, Culture, and the Image of Women (2009) and Cambridge Scholars Publishing’s Feminism Reframed: Reflections on Art and Difference (2008).

Landmark for Breastfeeding, a park bench sculpture featuring Angelina Jolie double breastfeeding, offers commentar y on a woman’s right to publicly breastfeed her child. It was included in Time Magazine’s ar ticle The Top 16 Breastfeeding Controversies and it was the subject of a Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien monologue.

Oprah Sarcophagus, featured prominently in Kitty Kelley’s bestseller Oprah: A Biography (2010), offers commentar y on wealth and body image.

Released 3D model of George Floyd Memorial Bust for free download on Sketchfab in June of 2020 to assist the BLM movement. The 3D model was used for large scale presentations in NYC with Floyd family and dignitaries present for unveiling. Models of Breonna Taylor and John Lewis were presented for unveiling in Union Square as well.

The NBA featured the John Lewis por trait for its John Lewis Good Trouble Award.

Sculpted Landmark for Peace: The MLK Jr. and RFK Memorial (groundbreaking performed by President Clinton, Mar tin Luther King III and Senator Ted Kennedy), and the AFL-CIO’s Worker Memorial at the Indiana Government Center are the first African-American monuments of Indianapolis.

Images of Greatness, featuring por trait busts of Negro leagues baseball players, exhibited at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama (1997). Portraits of the Olympic Centennial, a tribute to African-American pioneers of the Olympics, exhibited at the 1996 Olympic Village, leading to the public monument of Wm. DeHart Hubbard: The First African-American Olympic Gold Medalist, a 6’x 8’ bronze relief for the city of Cincinnati.

Cast Blues, exhibited in the permanent collection of the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas since 2001, is a series of por traits done from life of Blues legends born in the Mississippi Delta region. The collection is featured in the book Blues Heads: Portraits of American Roots Music, published by AppleParrot in 2010, and was the subject of a full-page ar ticle published in the New York Times in 2001.

Iraq War Memorial: The Death of Prince Harr y, inspired an anti-war demonstration of 3,000 demonstrators at Trafalgar Square in London where it was shown. It is included in Timothy Wilks’s Prince Henr y Revived: Image and Exemplarity in Early Modern England (2008) and Rober t Jobson’s book Harr y’s War : The True Stor y of the Soldier Prince (2008). The photo of the sculpture was Fox News’s World News Photo of the Week when it was released.

Knut Watches Over Germany, represented by Cor y Allen Contemporar y Ar t, repor ted by Reuters, Stern and Focus, offers commentar y on Germany’s abstention from the Libyan conflict.

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The Barbaro Memorial for the Right to Die (2008), depicted the deceased Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, and prompted a brief collaboration with PETA, whose policy prior to the sculpture’s release was to avoid sparring with the goliath horse racing industr y.

Patron Saint of the Gulf (2010), featuring Lady Gaga, exhibited by Cor y Allen Contemporar y Ar t at IAO Galler y in Oklahoma City, offers criticism of the BP oil spill.

BO O KS which reference Daniel Edwards’s work Jennifer Tyburczy (Jan 11, 2016). Sex Museums: The Politics and Performance of Display. University Of Chicago Press.

ISBN-13: 978-0226315249.

Renée Cramer (Oct 21, 2015). Pregnant with the Stars: Watching and Wanting the Celebrity Baby Bump. Stanford University Press. ISBN-13:9780804796743.

Ludger Hovestadt, Vera Bühlmann (2015). A Quantum City: Mastering the Generic Birkhäuser. 9783035606416.

Ana Rita Ferreira, Ana Nolasco (2014). Creative Processes in Art: Proceedings of the International Colloquium. FBAUL. 9789898771063.

Christopher Schaberg, Rober t Bennett (2014). Deconstructing Brad Pitt. Bloomsbur y Publishing USA. ISBN13:9781623561932.

McCallum, Jack and Wer theim, Jon (2012). Sports Illustrated Book of the Apocalypse: Two Decades of Sports Absurdity.

Diversion Books. ISBN 1938120159, 9781938120152.

Abe, Donyale (2012). Called to the Childbirth Profession: Opportunities for Doulas, Birth Educators, and You. Dreams2Life Publishing. ISBN-10: 0615578128. ISBN-13: 978-0615578125.

Lintott, Sheila and Sander-Staudt, Maureen, Editors (2011). Philosophical Inquiries into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering: Maternal Subjects. Routledge Studies in Contemporar y Philosophy. [Hardcover] ISBN-10: 0415891876.

ISBN-13: 978-0415891875. Edition: 1 Urban, Otto M. Curator (2011). Decadence Now: Visions of Excess. Ar tefakt/Arbor Vitae. ISBN 978-8087164600.

Smit, Christopher R. (2011). The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st Centur y Consumption. Intellect, Limited. ISBN 9781841504100.

Garson, Helen S. (2011). Oprah Winfrey: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies). ABC-CLIO, Incorporated. ISBN 9780313358326.

Reese, Jenny (2011). Off the Record Guide to the Life and Political Career of Hillar y Rodham Clinton. Webster’s Digital Ser vices. ISBN-10: 1241129444 ISBN-13: 978-1241129446.

Kelley, Kitty (2010). Oprah: A Biography. Crown. ISBN 073937785X Donovan, Mar y Anne. (2010). Christina Aguilera: a biography. Greenwood Biographies. ISBN 0313383197.

Orletti, Franca y Mariottini, Laura (2010). (Des)cor tesía en español. Espacios teóricos y metodológicos para su estudio.

Roma: Università degli Studi Roma Tre, EDICE; Estocolmo : Universidad de Estocolmo.

Sturken, Marita and Car twright, Lisa (2009). Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0195314403.

Mancoff, Debra (2009). Icons of Beauty: Art, Culture, and the Image of Women. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313338236.

Henriet, Eric-B (2009). L’uchronie. Klincksieck. ISBN 978-2252037102.

Steen, Christian Saehrendt and Kittl, T. (2009). Yo tambien sabria hacerlo. Entender el arte moderno. Anecdotas y curiosidades. MA NON TROPPO. ISBN 978-8496924437.

Schechter, Harold (2009). The Whole Death Catalog: A Lively Guide to the Bitter End. Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN 9780345499646”9780345499646.

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Reiter, Mark (2009). The Final Four of Ever ything. Simon and Schuster Adult Publishing Group. ISBN 9781439126080”9781439126080.

Benjamin, Louis (2009). The Naked and the Lens: A Guide to Nude Photography. Focal Press. ISBN 9780240811598”9780240811598.

Bailey, Sue (2009). Grave Expectations: Planning The End Like There’s No Tomorrow. Cider Mill Press Book Publishers, LLC .

ISBN 9781604330212”9781604330212.

Wilks, Timothy (2008). Prince Henr y Revived: Image and Exemplarity in Early Modern England. Paul Holber ton Publishing.

ISBN 9781903470572”9781903470572.

Jobson, Rober t (2008). Harr y’s War : The True Stor y of the Soldier Prince. John Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781844546725”9781844546725.

Kokoli, Alexandra M. (2008). Feminism Reframed: Reflections on Art and Difference. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1847184054.

Marcais, Nicolas and Marchand, Philippe (2008). Crazy Stuff. Firefly Books. ISBN 978-1554074266.

Newkey-Burden, Chas (2007). Paris Hilton: Life on the Edge. Gardners Books. ISBN 9781844544578”9781844544578.

Sweet, Leonard (2007). The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion. WaterBrook Press. ISBN 9781578566495.

Vorwald, John, Kroth, Maya, Willis, Valerie, Marinaccio, Ashley, Bramson, Dara, Yim, Dan, Chauvin, Kelsy, Honachefsky, Nick (2007). MTV Road Trips U.S.A. Frommers. ISBN 10: 0764587765 ISBN 13: 978-0764587764.

Warkel, Harriet G. (2003). The Herron Chronicle. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253342376”0253342376.

SE LE CT E D D IS TIN C TION S Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update with Michael Che and Colin Jost (2021) commentar y on George Floyd Bust in NYC .

In Touch Magazine (2018), “Celeb Statues of Limitations” featured with Marc Quinn as the only ar tists named.

Architectural Digest (2018), “The Most Beautiful Civil Rights Monuments in America.”

In Touch Magazine (2015), “Bizarre Exhibit of the Week” for Shroud of Scientology.

Time Magazine (2014), “The Top 16 Breastfeeding Controversies.”

Star Magazine’s Star Weekly Awards (2013), “Most Disturbing Ar t” for the fetal por traits of Kim Kardashian’s and Kate Middleton’s unborn babies.

Maxim Magazine’s Sexiest Things in America (2012), for “Sexiest Sculpture of Teen Idols: Justin and Selena as One”.

Most Annoying People 2009. Produced by Shine for BBC TV4. BBC London’s list of the “100 most annoying people of 2009”. Listed at number 63, between Bernard Madoff and Charlie Sheen.

The Art Newspaper’s “Bar tlebooth Award” (2005), London. Award given to ten ar tists from around the world, who made ar t that pushed the boundries.

Sports Illustrated’s “This Week’s Sign of the Apocolypse” (2005). Dubious distinction given by Spor ts Illustrated for The Ted Williams Memorial Display.

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Acknowledgements

California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Ellen Junn, President Dr. Kimberly Greer, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Depar tment of Ar t

Martin Azevedo, Associate Professor, Chair Tricia Cooper, Lecturer Dean De Cocker, Professor James Deitz, Lecturer Daniel Edwards, Associate Professor Patrica Eshagh, Lecturer Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, Professor Daniel Heskamp, Lecturer Chad Hunter, Lecturer Dr. Carmen Robbin, Professor Ellen Roehne, Lecturer Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Associate Professor Susan Stephenson, Associate Professor Jake Weigel, Associate Professor Mirabel Wigon, Assistant Professor Meg Broderick, Administrative Support Assistant II Alex Quinones Instructional Tech II Kyle Rambatt, Equipment Technician II

University Ar t Galleries

Dean De Cocker, Director Kory Twaddle, Gallery Assistant

School of the Ar ts

Brad Peatross, Graphic Specialist II

Dan Edwards - Drawings & Recent Works March 18–April 29, 2022 | Stanislaus State University Art Gallery, California State University, Stanislaus 300 copies printed. Copyright © 2022 California State University, Stanislaus • ISBN 978-1-940753-68-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

This exhibition and catalog have been funded by Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus.

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