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Daniel Edwards (American, 1965)
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Daniel Edwards
Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston
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Daniel Edwards
Oprah Burial Mask
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Daniel Edwards
Prince Harry 'Dead' in Iraq War Memorial
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Biography |
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After a life-changing encounter with Andy Warhol at a transsexual beauty pageant at New York’s Palladium in the mid-Eighties, Edwards was awarded a full scholarship from Warhol’s estate to attend The New York Academy of Art. There, Edwards received an academic training in figurative sculpture. And perhaps from Warhol he received an interest in the idea of celebrity. |
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His sculpture addresses celebrity and popular culture in ways that have often stirred controversy. His “Paris Hilton Autopsy” prompted TIME Magazine to say, “Art and Paris Hilton have collided, and the results aren’t pretty.” Previously, Edwards’s work drew similar responses with his nude depiction of a birthing Britney Spears on a bearskin rug titled, “Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston.” However, the works aren't just shocking images of celebrity, they also raise questions that Edwards' believes needs to be answered, one of his pieces recently inspired a Congressional hearing to consider the need for a Congressional committee to create a regulatory body for horseracing; in an effort to help facilitate racehorse safety. This came about after his “Barbaro Memorial” statue of the late Kentucky Derby winner was announced to be unveiled in New York’s Central Park. At that time, Edwards introduced a proposal for legislature titled “Barbaro’s Law,” which provided an online petition to urge Congress to pass a law that would arm consumers with the truth about the perils of horseracing by requiring racetracks to disclose race-related injury and fatality statistics. |
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Often vilified for his use of celebrity, called “Shock Artist” by the New York Post and “prankish and frolicsome” by the New York Times, while winning such dubious honors as Sports Illustrated’s “This Week’s Sign of The Apocalypse,” The Art Newspaper’s Bartlebooth award, as well as Sporting News calling for “the artist’s head under a Guillotine,” Edwards’s artwork has also been seen as prophetic and consistent in its ability to humanize social issues that the media and public have trouble addressing. |
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