Ken Graves:
The Meaning of Gravity
Luhz Press presents "The Meaning of Gravity," the first monograph of collage works by Ken Graves.
Ken Graves created hundreds of collages from the mid-1970s until his passing in 2016, using medical journals, technical manuals, advertisements, and found objects. Highly influenced by Surrealism's aim to reveal the subconscious through dream-like scenes, he reconfigured the material of popular culture to unveil the social undercurrents embedded in commercial imagery. Graves' collages examine the tension of societal roles-from intimate relationships, to duty, to one's sex or station-and masterfully reveals the hidden rituals that have been erected to create and maintain a set of social orders. Yet, each scene resists finality, presenting work that is fluid, contingent, and inquisitive.
While Graves' reputation as a photographer precedes him, the artist's rarely seen collage work complements his photography, revealing an artist who engaged with the politically charged climate of late twentieth century America not only by documenting it but also by reimagining it.
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EVENTS
The Meaning of Gravity book launch
The book launch event is hosted in collaboration with ROSEGALLERY and coincides with the opening Fragmented Lucidity: The Art of Collage and Photomontage, an exhibition of works by Katrien De Blauwer, Ken Graves, and Kensuke Koike
2-5pm on Saturday, 9 December, 2023
ROSEGALLERY
2525 Michigan Ave. B-7
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Ken Graves created hundreds of collages from the mid-1970s until his passing in 2016, using medical journals, technical manuals, advertisements, and found objects. Highly influenced by Surrealism's aim to reveal the subconscious through dream-like scenes, he reconfigured the material of popular culture to unveil the social undercurrents embedded in commercial imagery. Graves' collages examine the tension of societal roles-from intimate relationships, to duty, to one's sex or station-and masterfully reveals the hidden rituals that have been erected to create and maintain a set of social orders. Yet, each scene resists finality, presenting work that is fluid, contingent, and inquisitive.
While Graves' reputation as a photographer precedes him, the artist's rarely seen collage work complements his photography, revealing an artist who engaged with the politically charged climate of late twentieth century America not only by documenting it but also by reimagining it.
EVENTS
The Meaning of Gravity book launch
The book launch event is hosted in collaboration with ROSEGALLERY and coincides with the opening Fragmented Lucidity: The Art of Collage and Photomontage, an exhibition of works by Katrien De Blauwer, Ken Graves, and Kensuke Koike
2-5pm on Saturday, 9 December, 2023
ROSEGALLERY
2525 Michigan Ave. B-7
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Works by Ken Graves
Essay by Eva Lipman
Co-edited by Alexander Helmintoller and Zoe Lemelson
Design by Zoe Lemelson
Edition of 800
11.5x9.25 inches, Clothbound hardcover
128 pages / 88 plates
979-8-218-26254-9
Release date: 19 December 2023
© 2023 Luhz Press, LLC