Nancy Graves’ painting Equivalent is the inverse of Reversal, a similarly sized work painted in 1978, in that the colors are rendered as their opposites. The tripartite division of the canvas is retained, as is the central linear motif referencing Quipu, 1978, a large bronze sculpture of the same year. A quipu is an Incan/Andean record-keeping device made of colored ropes with knots that represent numerical information.
During this period Graves was creating complex layered compositions that cited her earlier work, generating an archaeology of her own artmaking, a concept that was central to her practice. Citing her earlier sculpture, these paintings reflect her engagement with both two-dimensional and three-dimensional work, one representing the other in successive yet distinct versions. As a self-described “objective” artist Graves referenced extant scientific visual information such as diagrams and maps from the very beginning of her career.
- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Nancy Graves: A Survey, 1969/1980 5/3/1980. Additional Venues: Akron Art Institute, Akron, OH, July 5-August 31, 1980; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, September 20-October 26, 1980; Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN, November 15-January 6, 1981; Neuberger Museum, State University of New York College at Purchase, Purchase, NY, January 25-March 15, 1981; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, March 30-May 3, 1981; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, May 31-July 12, 1981
- Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, Nancy Graves: Inspired Vision/ sculpture, paintings, drawings 4/15/2009 - 06/28/2009 Additional Venues: A reduced versionof the Joseloff show travelled to The Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. , September 9-Octoberr 23, 2009
- The Gallery at R & F (R & F Handmade Paints, Inc.), Kingston, New York, Nancy Graves Encaustics: Presented in conjunction with The Nancy Graves Foundation and Ameringer/McEnery/Yohe, New York 10/2/2010 - 11/20/2010
- Nancy Graves: A Survey 1969/1980, Fanfare/The Commmercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, November 16, 1980, cover illus.
- Carr, Carolyn Kinder., , Nancy Graves: A Survey 1969-1980: Observations and . . . discussion of sculpture, Dialogue: The Ohio Arts Journal, Munroe Falls, Ohio, July/August 1980, pp.18-19, illus. 19.
- Cathcart, Linda L., , Nancy Graves: A Survey, 1969/1980, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 1980, pp. 35, cat no. 48 and 86 illus.
- Davis, Zina, The Lightness of Being, Nancy Graves: Inspired Vision, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT 2009, pp. 34, illus.and 39.
- La Badie, Donald, , Real world is the springboard for creations of Nancy Graves, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, November 16, 1980, p. 26.