Ken Graves and Eva Lipman Ballroom - Jessica Boyer

 http://graveslipman.com/BallroomDanceIntro.html

“Locked in an embrace, a man and woman twirl in a world between fantasy and reality.  These are competition ballroom dancers, graceful angels who serve the god of dance.  The images capture the mystery of the shadowy world behind the ballroom, pulling taut the tensions between the slick surface of performance and the realities that lie beneath.  The ballroom is a microcosm that reflects the larger world and its truths.  Although ballroom competitions are contests of emotional and physical endurance, the subtext is about the impossible pursuit of perfection."
                                                                                              Ballroom, Sally Sommers

 

Ken Graves was born in June 27, 1942 in Portland, Oregon.  He received his B.F.A. (1970) and M.F.A. (1971) from the San Francisco Art Institute.   He is the co-author of American Snapshots (Scrimshaw Press, 1977) and with Eva Lipman, Ballroom (Milkweed Editions, 1989), text by Sally Sommers. Both Ken and Eva have a forthcoming book, The Making of Men, (Verve Editions, producer), with an introduction by Germaine Greer and an afterword by Susan Kismaric, curator at MOMA, NYC.  Ken is the recipient of a Ferguson Grant, Friends of Photography (1973), National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1975 and 1986), and the John Guggenheim Fellowship (2000).  His work is exhibited and is in the permanent collections of the Allentown Art Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The George Eastman House, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, The New York Public Library, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.  The work is on consignment with ClampArt, NYC. Ken Graves is currently Professor of Art at the Pennsylvania State University.

Eva Lipman was born February 8, 1946 in Czechoslovakia.  She received her B.A. (1968) in literature from Hunter College, and her M.S.W. (1976) from Columbia University.  She studied photography at the Center for Media Arts, and the School of Visual Arts, NYC.  Her work has been exhibited and is in the permanent collections of the Allentown Art Museum, Erie Art Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, the New York Public Library, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.  Currently her work is on consignment with ClampArt, NYC.  Eva has been collaborating with Ken Graves since 1987 resulting in the above mentioned books, Ballroom, and The Making of Men. They have completed a photographic project on Hot Springs in the Southwest, and are beginning a series exploring tattoo culture.