Following the critically acclaimed Camels installation at the Whitney Museum in 1969 and a period focused solely on painting, Graves returned to sculpture in the 1980s with renewed experimentation. Graves became one of the first contemporary artists to experiment with bronze casting, whereby she organized cast bronze objects, typically food and plants, into asymmetrical sculptures that addressed notions of balance and space.
Inspired by Pablo Picasso, David Smith, Alexander Calder, and post-cubist sculptors who explored tension and spatial dynamics, Graves assembled unlikely and precarious forms that hover between balance and imbalance, movement and stillness. The title, Pendula, evokes the uncertain equilibrium played out in this artwork, and it also references the leaf element “pendant” that swings gently if touched.
Using found objects, Graves collaborated with Pichard Polich of the Tallix Foundry New York, to cast ephemeral and natural materials in metal. Without relying on preparatory sketches, she worked in an improvisational manner, assembling her gravity defying sculptures intuitively. Her process emphasized a sense of balance, exploring the tension between gravity and weightlessness. The resulting works have a subdued color palette. Graves employed three primary methods to apply color to her sculptures: patination, fired enamel, and polyurethane paint, fusing the color to the metal and giving the sculptures their distinct finish and striking coloration.
- Hirschl & Alder Gallery, New York, NY, The Skowhegan Celebration Exhibition 5/1/1984.
- The Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY, Transformations 8/21/1984.
- Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, New Dimensions 1/25/1985.
- Paulo Salvador Gallery, New York, NY, Polly Apfelbaum/Louise Bourgeois/Nancy Graves/Aeyung Park/Toni Putnam/Margaret Wharton 9/10/1986.
- Carmean, Jr., E.A., The Sculpture of Nancy Graves: A Catalogue Raisonne, Hudson Hills Press, New York, NY in association with the Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, 1987, pp. 11, 40, 118, cat. no. 136 illus., 133 and 135.
- Monaghan, Kathleen M., Brochure, New Dimensions, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, 1985, n.p.
- Polich, Richard F., Nancy Graves, Toni Putnam and Michael Steiner., Transformations, The Katonah Gallery, Katonah, NY, 1984, n.p. no. 4. Illus.
- Tompkins, Calvin, "Nancy Graves" by Joan Seeman Robinson, Great American Artists: The Skowhegan Medal Recipients, New York, London and Skowhegan, Maine, 1984, pp. 84 and 85 illus.