Cable Depot

For the 3rd edition of Sofia Art Fair, Cable Depot proposes a solo presentation of Lee Edwards’ seminal 2011 series of miniature oil paintings on conkers and found wood – “How to disappear completely”. An intensely personal project, this is a collection of finely executed female portraits, loaded with unrequited love, break ups and the pit-of-the-stomach desires for the ones that got away.

The diminutive objects within which Edwards’ meaning is held, reluctantly but ineluctably pull the viewer into a private space, hidden within the scale of the works (painted with fine brushes, by eye and without magnification). Starkly natural faces peak out of, then disappear into the grain of found wood and on the swollen belly buttons of schoolboy conkers. They look back, full of meaning to the artist – unknowable to the observer - but then Edwards is compelled to share, through their titles, glimpses of their histories, snippets of his past.

Lee Edwards lives and works in London. His process is meticulously detailed and usually refers to intensely personal subject matter. He works mainly in graphite and oil paint. Edwards graduated from the Royal College of Art (MA Painting) in 2005, and Chelsea College of Art (BA Fine Art). His work has been shown at eN arts Kyoto, Tate Modern, and Gimpel Fils. In 2024 he was artist in residence at Shiro-Oni, Onishi, Japan, resulting in a solo exhibition at Domo Baal, London in 2025. He shows internationally and is held in numerous collections.