‘At times of uncertainty and hardship we turn to artists more than ever. Edwards assembly of figures is an affirmation
of the complexity, wonder and resilience of humanity and the natural order of all things’ Calvin Winner, Head of Collections and Curator at Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
Laurence Edwards’ While the Whole Earth Changes Tune was born out of a shift in approach to making and suggests the start of a new juncture in his work. With his foundry closed during the national lockdown and clay difficult to use in the hot weather Edwards turned to plaster. Rather than throwing away left over plaster he poured it into an old mould of a favourite figure. He soon had gathered a number of these figures only to slice them up on a bandsaw, mix up the pieces and reassemble them, piling them up as high as they would go. The figures leaned and swayed, and Laurence carved and filed them back, bringing new forms out of an assemblage of others.
