September: jewelry boxes
Each month Ed goes through the newest arrivals and chooses the pieces he would take home himself. This month, six jewelry boxes from the September shipment.
Since 1969, Ed Pascoe's work has come down to one decision, made thousands of times: this piece, or that one.
He looks at the sculpting and the painting, and at the things that are harder to name. Whether the composition is balanced. Whether the colors pull against each other and still belong together. Whether the piece holds up from every side, and whether it makes you stop.
He also passes on a great deal. Plenty of good work reaches the gallery that he would not put his name to. An Ed's Pick is a piece he would choose over the others, the way he would choose it for his own home.
Ed with Senzo Duma
From a conversation with Ed, going through the boxes one by one.
01
“First of all, is it straight? Is the animal on its lid proportional to the rest of the box?”
A figure set off-center, or too big for its lid, throws the whole piece. On Senzo Duma's rhino box the rhino stands square in the middle of the lid, sized to it, and the box looks right from every side. See the rhino box
02
“I love this kind of color contrast. Green, orange, and blue.”
On the sunbird box the orange blooms of the lid sit over a teal base, and small orange dots carry the color of the lid down into the pattern, so the two halves answer each other. See the sunbird box
03
“You can't see where the lid joins the base. It shows skill.”
On the protea boxes the lid is built into the petals, so the flower looks whole until you lift it. It is hard to get right, and Ed checks it on every one. See the grey protea
04
“I look for the rich coloring. I love this kind of thing where they put little dots.”
Black dots down every petal give the frog flower box its depth, and the red tips catch the light. Ed also checks what most people never see: the inside of the rim painted too, and no bare patch left where the glaze could show a flaw. See the frog flower box
