Lydia Gravis
"I’m fascinated by psychological spaces of human experience that aren’t easily defined, but that are undoubtedly felt."
Renew 7
36” x 30”
india ink on panel
About the artist
Lydia Gravis, b. 1981, lives and works in Ogden, Utah. She earned her B.A. in painting and drawing from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina, and her MFA in visual art from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. She has worked as Gallery Director of the Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery within the Department of Visual Art and Design at Weber State University since 2014.
“It took me years to pinpoint this, but ultimately I’ve concluded that the art I make often stems from a deep, empathic desire to respond to situations that I, or others, feel, but don’t necessarily understand; situations that may seem senseless, or tragic, but that connect us to our collective experience of being human. I’m fascinated by psychological spaces of human experience that aren’t easily defined, but that are undoubtedly felt. This is an abstract idea. Instead of taking something specific, and abstracting its essence, my work attempts to take something abstract, like the idea of liminal psychological space, and suggest its specificity through visual language. We become overwhelmed by experiences we don’t understand, but we’re also seduced by our desire to understand them more clearly. I use mark-making and obsessive micro-textures to express that tension. By conjuring and obscuring biomorphic shapes with graphite and water media I attempt to depict these infinite psychological spaces of human experience, giving the illusion of form to something that seems present but simultaneously formless.”
