Hesworth Press, 40 pages

ISBN-13 978-0-9558675-0-7

£11 including postage

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Jon Edgar has a non-conceptual approach to sculpture. More than fifty heads have been modelled in clay directly from the sitter then fired to become terracotta. It is an unfashionable material today, yet it provides a directness that no cast, in however grand a material, can touch.

  Open invitations to sit are made to those whose independent stance he is appreciative of; those who plough their own furrow. They become subjects for his developing body of work and seem to introduce raw energy into his sculpture. Portraits provide a bank of warm organic forms which inform more abstract carvings. His diverse blocks are acquired from all manner of locations; the people and places yielding them contributing to the memory for the work in hand. He argues that his stance on sustainability - sourcing locally or re-using where possible - will change from being viewed as eccentric to commonplace as the cost of carbon soars and lifestyles shrink to fit. As more of our travelling becomes necessarily virtual, our geographic ability to roam will contract and our home range intensify in relevance; perhaps then sculpture may return to human scale and a local relevance - when people regain the time to delight in simple visions?

Edgar regards successful pieces as those having forms with the capacity to endure when razed of decorative appendage and shallow gleam, perhaps the former through tumbling down some metaphorical mountain stream and the latter via convergent evolution which sees all things fade to grey through time and weather. Comments from those having seen photographs and viewing works in real life are telling. “I didn’t realise that piece was as small as that” is all one could hope for in the search for monumentality and mass that defies scale. There is no willingness to contemplate extravagance or eccentricity in order to penetrate the indifference of the public. The works stand alone - being seen, touched; and yet above any clear meaning or intention. For Edgar, there is no real understanding what is emerging from the work, other than the knowledge that it is some form of self-discovery. Looking back at carvings which have emerged without prior intention, and wondering - is contagious.

In which tradition does he belong? A contemporary artist only in that he is alive, thinking about a number of works in progress on most days, independent of spirit and stubbornly refusing to compromise. Certainly not a portrait sculptor, but an artist who is drawn to interesting people. Unashamedly admitting his impatience would dishonour a stonemason - but snatching techniques needed to ease his naïve yet determined steps into the unforeseen. A simple life connecting with his surroundings whilst searching for essence and form - and hoping for alchemy where inspiration springs.