Internationally acclaimed artist Edwina Sandys
and her husband architect Richard Kaplan recently
opened their massive Soho loft for a select gathering of
friends for a private vernissage of her latest work,
Yin Yang, a series of silk screened images
all in her favorite colors - red and white.
Female
and male figures in counterpoint dominate this new
series of ink on archival paper works with common items
like tulips (which she adores) that reflect some of her
previous well known sculptures.
The renowned sculptor, artist, writer and
mother of two, Edwina Sandys is also the granddaughter
of one of the most important political figures in modern
history:
Sir Winston Churchill. Sandys, who was born in 1938,
grew up in the post-World War II era. Among her fondest
memories were watching her grandfather paint and work on
the family farm, where he tended horses, pigs and, for a
few days, a lion.
Over
the decades, Edwina has explored a number of mediums but
it seems that it is her gigantic public sculptures that
have caught the attention and fancy of the world at
large. In 1990 following the tearing down of the
Infamous Berlin Wall, she created a monumental sculpture
entitled Breakthrough fashioned from
sections of the Wall close to the Brandenburg Gate -
complete with all the political graffiti. Fittingly, the
sculpture is now on the grounds of Westminster College
where her grandfather delivered his famed Iron Curtain
speech.
Her
sculptures are for the most part based on universal
themes and many portray women and family. During the
International Year of the Child, the United Nations
installed three of sculptures, Child, Family
and Generations at the U.N> School in New
York and at the UN headquarters in Geneva and Vienna.
Since
launching her career in 1970, Sandys has captured the
attention of museums, institutions and private
collectors worldwide with her bold marble silhouettes,
fanciful aluminum images and her colorful paintings
leading many to compare her work to that of Matisse and
Toulouse-Lautrec.
Edwina and Richard consummate hosts
welcomed a diverse group of friends’ family and fans to
the airy loft including Stephania Conrad, David Aldea,
Paul Sharpe, Josiah Early, Julie and David Toby,
Paul Guntter, Brenda Anderson, Kelley Anderson, Christopher Norwood,
Arthur Prager, Jennifer Beeby, Alex and Barbara
Kreton, Lon Choung, Frederick Doner, Mary Ellen
Oldenburg, Sandra Ourusoff, Paula and Eliot Hawkins
and
James Whitecross.