Thursday 18 November
In 2021, Edwards completed a 26ft sculpture named Yox Man which stands next to the A12 in Suffolk. Russell Pearce of Yoxford Parish Council said that “to have that standing in the village, and be able to see it from the A12, it’s a great thing for Yoxford and will really help the economy. It will really stand out, and people will want to stop and have a look around here.”
Weighing 8 tonnes, it is one of the largest bronze sculptures to be cast in the UK in recent years. Commissioned by the Estate at Cockfield Hall, Edwards described it as “an attempt to embed Suffolk and the idea of Suffolk in the landscape and create a main focal point for it.” The sculpture stands on land that is part of the Wilderness Reserve, a private 8000 acre estate that has been assembled by Jon Hunt since 1995.
Like the Greek bronzes of Antiquity and the many bronze age hoards and Saxon treasures found in the area (Sutton Hoo the most famous among them), Yoxman will exist as part of the landscape for future generations. Edwards is one of very few artists who casts his own work in bronze and Yoxman was created at his nearby studio and foundry in Halesworth. His creation has been an extraordinary journey over four years.
The sculptures feet merge with the ground, like a metaphor of the twinning of man and nature. Furthermore, there is no differentiation between the texture of the figure’s body and its base as if we are witnessing the end of its emergence from the earth, further enhancing this notion of the twinning of man and nature. The colouration of the bronze is meant to represent the colour of the soil in Suffolk, further merging this man and the earth. The bronze is not a smooth surface, rather it elevates and recedes, perhaps reflecting the marks of the River Yox and journey through the lowlands of East Suffolk before it flows as the Minsmere into the North Sea.
The head is not looking straight on, rather it is angled like it is looking around, observing the environment it has arrived at. As Laurence said about Yox Man this figure is “kind of like a revenant visitor from the past that’s come back, musing on an unrecognisable environment and contemplating its future”.
Yox Man harks back to the Edwards drawings from the 1990s when he drew stick men without hands and feet. Edwards acknowledged that he has never been very good at drawing hands or distinguishable feet. What we see here is in this works is an evolution to becoming an artist who is completely free. What the viewer needs to understand is that they need to trust the artist and the decisions they have made, rather than to judge them for elements the canon of art has told them to expect. We no longer live in time where making a foot correlates to good art, as Rodin deemed in the case of Camille Claudel. His decision to not model hands or feet shows a level in maturity in Edwards work and understanding of his talents, which lie in the figure as a whole rather than the bodies extremities.
To add to the landscape composition, nationally award winning sculptor and Yoxford resident, Laurence Edwards, was commissioned to create a figurehead for this environmental revival, something unique to its setting and its location in Suffolk. Laurence’s ambitious plans have culminated in the creation of ‘Yoxman’.
In 2021, Edwards completed a 26ft sculpture named Yox Man which stands next to the A12 in Suffolk. Russell Pearce of Yoxford Parish Council said that “to have that standing in the village, and be able to see it from the A12, it’s a great thing for Yoxford and will really help the economy. It will really stand out, and people will want to stop and have a look around here.”
Weighing 8 tonnes, it is one of the largest bronze sculptures to be cast in the UK in recent years. Commissioned by the Estate at Cockfield Hall, Edwards described it as “an attempt to embed Suffolk and the idea of Suffolk in the landscape and create a main focal point for it.” The sculpture stands on land that is part of the Wilderness Reserve, a private 8000 acre estate that has been assembled by Jon Hunt since 1995.
Like the Greek bronzes of Antiquity and the many bronze age hoards and Saxon treasures found in the area (Sutton Hoo the most famous among them), Yoxman will exist as part of the landscape for future generations. Edwards is one of very few artists who casts his own work in bronze and Yoxman was created at his nearby studio and foundry in Halesworth. His creation has been an extraordinary journey over four years.
The sculptures feet merge with the ground, like a metaphor of the twinning of man and nature. Furthermore, there is no differentiation between the texture of the figure’s body and its base as if we are witnessing the end of its emergence from the earth, further enhancing this notion of the twinning of man and nature. The colouration of the bronze is meant to represent the colour of the soil in Suffolk, further merging this man and the earth. The bronze is not a smooth surface, rather it elevates and recedes, perhaps reflecting the marks of the River Yox and journey through the lowlands of East Suffolk before it flows as the Minsmere into the North Sea.
The head is not looking straight on, rather it is angled like it is looking around, observing the environment it has arrived at. As Laurence said about Yox Man this figure is “kind of like a revenant visitor from the past that’s come back, musing on an unrecognisable environment and contemplating its future”.
Yox Man harks back to the Edwards drawings from the 1990s when he drew stick men without hands and feet. Edwards acknowledged that he has never been very good at drawing hands or distinguishable feet. What we see here is in this works is an evolution to becoming an artist who is completely free. What the viewer needs to understand is that they need to trust the artist and the decisions they have made, rather than to judge them for elements the canon of art has told them to expect. We no longer live in time where making a foot correlates to good art, as Rodin deemed in the case of Camille Claudel. His decision to not model hands or feet shows a level in maturity in Edwards work and understanding of his talents, which lie in the figure as a whole rather than the bodies extremities.
To add to the landscape composition, nationally award winning sculptor and Yoxford resident, Laurence Edwards, was commissioned to create a figurehead for this environmental revival, something unique to its setting and its location in Suffolk. Laurence’s ambitious plans have culminated in the creation of ‘Yoxman’.
