Wax Works IX 1987

Nancy Graves made this “Wax Works IX” sculpture out of bronze, wax, and pigment, and you can really see how her process must have been all about building. I love the way this piece has so many different elements coming together, like a 3-D collage or something. The colors are really interesting too – these kind of muted greens and browns, but then pops of red and blue. It’s not about making things match, but finding a kind of harmony in the clash. Look at this almost translucent dripping form, set against jagged spikes. It reminds me a little of some of the work of John Chamberlain, who made sculptures out of crushed cars. Both artists are taking things that already exist and transforming them into something totally new, while thinking about artmaking as an ongoing conversation of form and ideas.