Brendon Edwards exhibits his most recent work, ‘A Symphony of Spheres – Beethoven’s 5th’, in Art@Africa’s Franschhoek sculpture garden located opposite the Huguenot monument from September 24th.
Returning to his home country after his early years in Zimbabwe Edwards studied the Philosophy of Aesthetics and Logic before becoming an artist. His high impact, large scale works can be seen across South Africa and internationally.
The work is a visual representation of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. A masterpiece that encapsulates triumph over adversity, considered by many critics and composers to be the greatest musical composition of all time. ‘A Symphony of Spheres’ is a patinaed steel sculpture that represents opposites: earth and water, man-made architecture and organic flowing forms of nature. Its colour is selected to draw perfectly from the South African landscape and its material to represent every building’s internal skeleton. The work is a timeless, visual vibration of Beethoven’s 5th transformed into an immersive three-dimensional experience. In explaining his work, Edwards communicates there is more than a man-made and natural connection, something that lies much deeper in human existence.
Edwards presents his work as a way to visually allude to an idea Plato labelled as the “Music of Spheres”. This is an ancient philosophical concept which demonstrates that the spatial relationship of the Sun, Moon and planets form a musical scale. The Pythagorean theory states that the distances of the planets from the Sun and the distances between these bodies, are represented by musical intervals of tones and half-tones, etc.
Edwards has labelled his genre Muse-spheric as a nod to this philosophical concept but adding emphasis to the idea of art and music. The reference to Muse refers to the Muses; nine deities in Greek Mythology who presided over the arts and sciences, becoming specifically associated with music. What is ever present in Edwards’ spherical work is this underlying idea that music is at the very core of our existence, born from the universe and considered by many intellectuals as the universal language of mankind. It has the ability to cross borders, ethnicities, time, race and religion, uniting humans together through pure emotion. Edwards’ studies and understanding of the world, philosophy and artistic language allow him to harness an incredible talent of creating art by taking complicated subjects and representing them in a simple aesthetic form.
Fine Music Radio’s Rodney Trudgeon stated “Beethoven’s 5th is like Michelangelo’s David, a monument to art and humanity”, however, like all great works, popularity and intemperance cause the impact of these great works to become “dangerously blunted”. South African artist Brendon Edwards believes that these greats must be visualised and reinterpreted in newly creative ways to recapture their stupendousness.
- Brendon Edwards – A Symphony of Spheres will be a part of Franschhoek Creates running from 27 October to 3 November – watch this space!
WHAT: Brendon Edwards – A Symphony of Spheres
WHERE: ART@AFRICA SCULPTURE GARDEN – FRANSCHHOEK Huguenot street 2 , opposite Huguenot Monument
WHEN: Opening : National Heritage Day Saturday 24 September 2022 – 11 am
INFO: C 082 774 1078 | E dirk@artatafrica.art | Visit | Instagram: artatafrica | Facebook: artatafrica
Art@Africa
In world class venues in and around Cape Town, Art @ Africa creates meaningful art experiences, curated by internationally acclaimed curators that trigger powerful emotions. In addition to bringing internationally acclaimed artists’ works to South Africa, the gallery and sculpture estate also provide a platform on which South African talent can be recognised on an international level, which is sure to create great investment opportunities for local art. Art@Africa celebrates the diversity of South African art in a unique setting at the world renowned V&A Waterfront, at 120 meter from the Zeitz Museum. In Art@Africa Sculpture Garden on the grounds of Perfume Privé Workshop, a stone throw from the Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek , Classical and contemporary art fills the space.
