Consequence 1982

Curator: Welcome. Before us hangs Nancy Graves's "Consequence," created in 1982 using ink on paper. It’s an intricate drawing, but what strikes you immediately? Editor: A sense of playful chaos, almost a map of the unconscious. The delicate ink lines, in varying hues, create a layered, ambiguous space. I wouldn’t call it soothing but intriguing with an energetic rhythm, certainly. Curator: Yes, precisely. The drawing exhibits Graves's fascination with systems of representation. Notice how the lines, at first glance seemingly random, suggest cartographic or scientific diagrams. Think about the way each colour seems to suggest the rendering of unique elements from a wider landscape or conceptual plane. Editor: I’m wondering if we might consider this visual language to be her own exploration of mark-making that invites contemplation of consequence? Curator: A fascinating consideration. We might argue the layering enacts how different factors converge, building upon one another in intricate and unpredictable ways. There's a delicate tension between the planned and the accidental. One almost gets the impression of a palimpsest; of actions upon actions building up in consequence. Editor: This complexity perhaps speaks to the intricacies of knowledge itself, doesn't it? I am left with a sense of something both finite, with defined parameters of a single sheet of paper, but also perhaps limitless – pointing toward the expansiveness of information or history itself. The layering to me hints to both. Curator: That's a poignant observation. Graves asks us to question fixed perspectives and acknowledge the multiple possibilities inherent in interpretation. One gets a real sense of precarity. The seemingly infinite accumulation of information can indeed have real consequences. Editor: Ultimately, “Consequence” leaves us with a meditation on ephemerality and a challenge to decipher the transient and constantly shifting relationships that structure our understanding of the world. Thank you. Curator: A fitting summation. The piece is so layered in execution that it can indeed offer us as many distinct perspectives. It shows that careful consideration will, if we let it, yield abundant interpretive dividends.