Ken Graves – The Meaning of Gravity

Review by Debe Arlook •

The Meaning of Gravity is the first endeavor by Luhz Press, an independent art book publisher based in Los Angeles. Helmed by Zoe Lemelson, it is also the first monograph of the late Ken Graves’ mixed-media collage. Graves (1942-2016) is a 2000 Guggenheim Fellow well known for his street photography and books from the 1960s -1970s.

Ahead of his time, Graves’ photo collages were an anomaly, not fitting into traditional categories of photography or prints, unlike his earlier work exhibited in museums and galleries. These lesser-known works reveal “an artist who documented and reimagined the politically charged climate of late twentieth-century America in San Francisco,” where he lived. The Meaning of Gravity is a collection of disquieting poetic works and an improvisational visual language that deems revisiting again and again.

Graves was an artist who worked in photography, collage, and painting. From an outsider’s perspective, he indulged his inquisitive mind with contrariness, satire, and sarcasm while confronting his feelings regarding established culture. For 30 years, he collaborated with his wife, photographer Eva Lipman. Through their insider perspective, they captured images of ballroom dancing, school proms, and amateur prizefighters, resulting in a collection of ironic and joyful photographs. Their style evolved into a unique blend of formal inventiveness and psychological insights. Their shared photo credit is the embodiment of their trust and respect for each other and their work as a single entity. Of their many books, Restraint and Desire culminate their lifelong creative partnership.

In The Meaning of Gravity’s essay, Lipman wrote that Graves “was interested in taking the ordinary and transforming it into something magical.” He described his collages as intuitive and mysterious, “not unlike the mind, which, in its search for sleep, drifts and free associates.” He told Lipman he felt most vibrant in “the pause between inspiration and invention.” She felt his studio was a “magical kingdom, crossing a threshold from the everyday to the fantastic.” The editors describe the book’s title (also the title of one of the collages) as a metaphor for being pulled into that orbit Lipman describes.

This is not a traditional photography book but one in which photography is used by the artist as vocabulary to challenge and poke fun at the American dream. Graves’ decoded language is a window into his memories and perception of male anxiety, desire, and the feminine perspective. Influenced by surrealism’s dream-like scenes, Graves made photographic illusions with his amassed collection of visual scraps, which included medical journals and magazines from the ’30s through the ’50s, sequins, vellum, feathers, and other found objects, from the mid-1970s until his passing in 2016. During that time, he created hundreds of multi-layered collages that “examine the tension of societal roles, intimate relationships to duty to one’s sex or station.”

His thoughtful assemblage of unique materials was surgically cut, precisely folded, and meticulously glued together, resulting in intricate works that formed an essential part of his journey. Each piece bears the mark of his hand, heart, mind, and soul, with subtle details that expose cynicism, secrets, and thought-provoking innuendos that beckon the attention of thinkers, writers, and poets.

Sadly, this methodically layered work and the exquisite mark of the artist’s hand are missing in the digital reproductions of each plate. I learned of Grave’s photo collages when I attended an exhibition at Rose Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, which coincided with the book’s release. While they initially struck me as playful and nostalgic, a closer look revealed intricate narratives and layered sculptural works that left me wondering what this unknown visual dialogue was. Some were far from playful with grave (pun intended) personal and societal themes.

In ‘A Prolonged Childhood’, a 1940s-era bedroom showcases a pristine bed woven with lights, giving the impression of a stage. The room also features three framed portraits, each containing a truncated face and a disembodied hand. It is unclear whether the hand belongs to the person in each picture or another individual, but its presence aggressively suppresses the subject in each image. The artwork’s primary focus is a large portrait depicting a father figure cradling a grown man holding a balloon. It is worth knowing that Graves often used vellum to signify a boundary or portal. In this example, triangular vellum peelings reveal the dark parent-child façade by pointing to the bed and hostile miniature portraits.

The Meaning of Gravity is an homage to Grave’s career and, in my view, a historical body of work. The book was published with Swiss Binding, which allows a lay-flat read while exposing the unfinished spine, implying a potential rawness of the published work. His original works are raw, as was his vulnerability in the making. I believe his collages are a product of making work for the betterment of the soul because the soul will have it no other way.

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Debe Arlook is a Contributing Editor, Southern California photographic artist, and mentor, and her book Both Sides of the Table: Photography Portfolio Reviews Do’s and Don’ts will release this summer.

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The Meaning of Gravity, Ken Graves

Artist: Kenneth (Ken) Robert Graves, born Portland, Oregon, and passed Walnut Creek, California

Foreword & Co-edited: Zoe Lemelson and Alexander Helmintoller

Essay: Eva Lipman

Language: English

Clothbound hardcover, 88 plates, 128 pages, 11.5×9.25 inches, Printed and bound in Spain by SYL, Edition of 800, ISBN 979-8-218-26254-9

Photobook Designer: Zoe Lemelson

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