Page 159 - KBHA Bulletin 13

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He continued to work on different aspects of his art and in 1978 was one of a number of
artists invited to submit maquettes for a sculpture, intended to be 10 m high, to be erected

in the new Pietersburg airport. Eddie’s entry was the winning one. It seems to have been a
development of an earlier piece, based on the spiral form, shown at his 1974 exhibition at

the Gallery International with the title “Reach for the Sky”. This was described by the art

critic Eldred Green in the following words (Argus, 20 November 1974):

It is the sculpture, No. 22, which makes the spiral truly complex, because this is a spiral in
which the axis is a curve! The straight bar on which the bars of aluminium are mounted is
not the axis but merely a mount required by the engineering. The bars diminish in length as
they move upwards from the base and the swirling motion begins to topple but does not
fall. This subtle work is Ladan at his best.

The original was purchased by the National Gallery. (Figs. 3.42 & 3.43).

He also had time to support the Kalk Bay Fish and Fun Fare, appearing as King Neptune,

and gaining it, and himself, some valuable publicity. (Fig. 3.44).

In 1981 Eddie was at the centre of a dust-up in the South African art establishment when he
publicly fought with the Association of Arts Committee who had twice asked him to resign

from the Committee. There were all sorts of accusations flying around in the papers with
Eddie and his good friend Mike Ashley-Cooper in the thick of it – it went on for months

before the old order was apparently overthrown by the Young Turks - Eddie was 65 by

then!

In his art he was always experimenting and in 1983 was working with synthetic resins, and

in the same year contributed pieces at the Flora 83 exhibition at the Gowlett Gallery. Here
he was repeating work first done in the 60s. (Figs. 3.45 & 3.46). In the same year he was

appointed to the SABC’s Radio and Television Advisory Board – given that he was English