John Edgar made the first of these cubes in 2005 on return from Scotland. The genesis of these works came in conversation with Professor Murdo McDonald at the University of Dundee concerning the origins of sculpture, the abstraction of form and David Hume’s discourse on our perception of the fundamental sculptural forms – the cube and the sphere.

Following this John Edgar began to investigate Hume’s thesis and at first this involved bringing together the glass spheres he had made in the 1980s. In response, he made a granite cube of the same volume to contrast with the clear glass and “it wasn’t long before a sideways glance and a trick of light produced one of those wondrous moments when a new work is conceived.” (1)

Each of these cubes features a three dimensional cross intersecting the mass. There are eight cubes within the cube, separated by the arms of the cross.

The stone used in the cubes varies from work to work – serpentine, limestone, sandstone and granite from India; marble from Italy; granite from New Zealand. Glass is also used in a group of inter-related works. Edgar uses colour expressively and to reveal the nature and characteristics of the stone. The cross appears on each plane of the cube and unites the (suspended) smaller cubes into a greater whole. A humanistic debate emerges from these powerful works.

1. John Edgar, Artist Statement, November 7, 2009.