Nancy Graves

Nancy Graves (1939 – 1995) created two related works at Graphicstudio in 1990, a sculpture and a print. Ambitious, multi-layered and multi-media, they incorporate two dimensional and three-dimensional elements. Graves drew on her study of art history, culture and archaeology, to combine ancient Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine and Christian imagery. Ruth Fine writes that the profusion of imagery "...reflects an ongoing concern with the passage of time and with the relationship of time to the process of viewing a work of art."

Canoptic Legerdemain

In Graves’s first editioned sculpture she was able to expand her painting explorations in two-dimensional arrangement into the third dimension by attaching aluminum elements to the canvas. The openness of the sculpture is enhanced by the transparency of some of the overlapping elements generating rhythmic shifts as the eye follows one form and then another.

Canoptic Prestidigitation

In Canoptic Prestidigitation, Graves continued her exploration of layering through use of design, color, pattern and surface on a two-dimensional surface—the lithographic print—while adding a paper piece cast in relief to the lower right corner.

 

Further Resources

Artist's Site: nancygravesfoundation.org

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

For sales, or more information about an edition, please contact Graphicstudio at (813) 974-3503 or gsoffice@usf.edu.

Copyright + Reproduction

Images of the artwork are jointly owned by the artist and Graphicstudio. Reproduction of any kind including electronic media must be expressly approved by Graphicstudio.