John Edgar
Shoots
2006
Australian sandstone, Mt Somers limestone, Timaru Basalt
John Edgar’s work with its focus on finish and emphasis on mass, is a direct descendent of the early modernist work of Brancusi. His work is popular with corporate, civic and private collectors with an eye for craftsmanship, permanence and reference to the enduring tradition of stone carving in western art.
Edgar’s Brick Bay work signals a new venture for the artist. Traditionally John Edgar works with monumental form and has created sculpture that often references the block-like nature of his raw material. The forms of the Brick Bay works are more organic; they represent vegetative growth. This references the natural environment around the sculpture trail.
The word ‘shoots’ has a number of meanings. John Edgar has focused on two of these. In one context his work relates to the idea of newness in a generic sense. Thus the work reflects the vision and innovation informing the Brick Bay enterprise. Edgar is acknowledging the initiative of the unique development that patrons Christine and Richard Didsbury have undertaken at Brick Bay.
More nominally the title of the work refers to the cycle of the seasons. Shoots is a group of vigorous energizing young growths. In this it responds to the natural environment of the farm and the landscape – the pastures, the native and the exotic bush. It refers also to the landscaping and the planting that has altered and enhanced the environment. The walkway and the works along it are part of this continuum. The cylindrical bud and bullet shaped forms of Shoots are clustered together, as in a copse, or in a cluster of buildings, a group of forms denoting colonization and new development. But within any group is a myriad of individuals - witnessed here by the colourist element in these pieces. It is the unique mineral deposits in each stone that causes this innate diversity.
The works exist individually or as a group, one that can be added to. Shoots can grow.
Dr. Robin Woodward
