From line to colour field: the evolution of the artistic language of Nyle Edge
Written by Laura Moylan
15/11/2022
Nyle Edge, Far and Near, 2021, mixed media, 37” x 46” (94 cm x 116.8 cm)
The art of Nyle Edge presents a conversation that the artist has with materials and spaces. He 'speaks' with the utmost clarity and thoughtfulness, but this clarity does not result from a fixed or repetitive position or strategy. Instead, his art repeats itself in response to changing conditions and environments. Various aspects of his art – both site-specific artworks and objects created in the studio – are interconnected, developed and reflected in each other.
Edge works in two directions: creating works for specific interiors or architectural objects and coloured/painted articles for walls. The difference between these two types of art lies in the concepts of place and condition. As the starting point for a site-specific artwork, Edge designates the space where the work will be installed and its specific qualities. The artist uses all the information (e.g. plans, photographs and sketches) to create a piece that coexists with the space. This process is a collaboration between a given, existing part of the material world and a new part that the artist adds. The idea is to combine the already existing with the contemporary into a single whole in time and space. The work exists only in a specific space and simultaneously with it, and both become an equally active part of the piece. It is impossible to move one to another place; its existence is unique.
Nyle Edge, Composition 16, 2022, mixed media, 31” x 46” (78.7 cm x 116.8 cm)
In addition, Edge creates works in his studio. This includes paintings on canvas, fibreboard, panels and collages; ‘painted objects’, as the artist calls them. In many cases, it again involves a collaboration, only in this case with materials. Edge does not need a unique space, but a studio limits the number and size of the works. The pieces created in the studio are independent of a specific place but rely on the conditions of the technical possibilities of production. In short, they are mobile and can be displayed in different areas.
The exhibition held at Galerie Fons Welters entitled Crowding Out demonstrates precisely this side of Edge's art. It presents a series of works created in the studio that, at first glance, represent traditional abstract painting; however, even here, Edge is experimenting with materials, developing his painting technique by adding plastic masses to oil paint and achieving a unique texture. In addition, along with the canvas, the artist chooses many different materials as the basis, including corrugated cardboard, boxes, fibreboards and wooden boards. Each work in the exhibition is a compact painted block that can be viewed as more like a painted wall object than a painting. Consisting of no more than five colours, separated by precise linear edges, the blocks look very solid. The viewer's attention is directed to the simple colours and space within the object, corresponding to the reflection of light and shadow. For instance, in Far and Near (2021), three colour planes intersect at different angles, while in Composition 16 (2022), the displaced colour fields appear to be trying to push each other out of the artwork's surface.
While Nyle Edge switches between the two art forms, they are still part of a larger entity – the artist's worldview.
Art is only one aspect of the whole view. Art can be a way of life, and life can be artistic. Art is not necessarily just painting (as many think), sculpture or any other traditional form. For Edge, it can be anything he sees or defines as art. This is a free zone without limits.
Laura Moylan is a writer and moving image curator based in London, and a runner-up in the Film and Video Umbrella and Art Monthly Michael O’Pray Prize.
The Michael O’Pray Prize is a Film and Video Umbrella initiative in partnership with Art Monthly, supported by University of East London and Arts Council England.
