Paintings

Review for The Huddersfield Examiner by David Hammond Editor of The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Newsletter.

“A big one-man show by Dudley Edwards, called ‘A Work in Progress’. This seems a very modest title for an extensive selection of work which reveals the artist’s skills in painting and drawing in many attractively-finished works. Dudley feels that “real art” reached its zenith in Paris at the turn of the century. He has no time for the Brit Art pack and feels artists should go back in time for inspiration. He has been influenced by artists like Degas, Modigliani, Matisse, Bonnard, Vermeer and Picasso. Dudley, was part of a talented team at Bradford Art College in the early 1960s. He has devoted a lot of time to drawing with his earlier geometric forms now becoming figurative works. Taming the Beast is a powerful portrait of a woman with a cat and as with several other works there is a Picasso-like flavour to this construction. His bathers are colourful and sensual. While some of the artist’s figures have expressionless faces – like Plasmatic, a large oil with a couple seated at a table – there’s an air of sadness about some of the other characters like The Throne – a woman seated in an armchair, smoking a cigarette. Colour features strongly in pictures like Deck Chairs – a touch of humour here with the man wearing his trilby hat and waistcoat – but the artist is also successful with his single colour giclee prints from conte crayon like Isadora and Windy City. Altogether, it’s a show well worth visiting.”