Melvin Edwards’s works on paper feature traces of barbed wire, chain, and metal, and have a delicacy that belies the function of the objects they describe. Untitled (1974) juxtaposes a garland of chain and the silhouette of a fence against a brightly colored ground, creating a destabilizing disjunction between the ephemeral quality of the pictured materials and their real-world uses. Chains, for example, while symbolizing human connections, are also tools of bondage and oppression; similarly, fences are frequently used to imprison and separate populations. By transforming these objects into fanciful decorative elements, Edwards ultimately draws attention to his materials' most foreboding aspects.