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 SF book launch & talk
Eva Lipman, Vanessa Woods, Zoe Lemelson and Alex Helmintoller in Conversation
On Saturday, April 6th, 2024 artists Eva Lipman and Vanessa Woods spoke alongside Luhz Press founder Zoe Lemelson and co-editor Alex Helmintoller about Ken Graves’ life, work and influence, and joined in celebration of the recent release of The Meaning of Gravity, the first monograph of collage works by Ken Graves
The book launch event coincided with Anglim/Trimble Gallery’s show, Seeing Male, exhibiting photographs captured by partners Ken Graves and Eva Lipman.
For the launch, Graves’ original collages were on view alongside contemporary collage works from Vanessa Woods’ series ‘Somewhere Between Here and There,’ which Woods created with the materials archive she inherited from her mentor, Ken Graves.
Saturday, 6 April, 2024
Minnesota Street Project
Anglim/Trimble Gallery
1275 Minnesota Street
San Francisco, California 94107
The Meaning of Gravity LA 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 SF book launch & talk
Eva Lipman, Vanessa Woods, Zoe Lemelson and Alex Helmintoller in Conversation
On Saturday, April 6th, 2024 artists Eva Lipman and Vanessa Woods spoke alongside Luhz Press founder Zoe Lemelson and co-editor Alex Helmintoller about Ken Graves’ life, work and influence, and joined in celebration of the recent release of The Meaning of Gravity, the first monograph of collage works by Ken Graves
The book launch event coincided with Anglim/Trimble Gallery’s show, Seeing Male, exhibiting photographs captured by partners Ken Graves and Eva Lipman.
For the launch, Graves’ original collages were on view alongside contemporary collage works from Vanessa Woods’ series ‘Somewhere Between Here and There,’ which Woods created with the materials archive she inherited from her mentor, Ken Graves.
Saturday, 6 April, 2024
Minnesota Street Project
Anglim/Trimble Gallery
1275 Minnesota Street
San Francisco, California 94107
The Meaning of Gravity LA 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