Untitled
1972
gouache
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
Contemporary sheet music
1972
gouache
From the collection of Museum of Modern Art
You see a tangle of thin black lines, soft blue shapes, and tiny red dots on white paper. Graves made this after studying maps of the Arctic Ocean floor. The squiggles aren’t waves—they’re underwater ridges and valleys, drawn like a scientist’s notes. The red dots? Maybe data points, maybe just marks to keep your eye moving. If you like how art and maps mix, try more work by Nancy Graves.
