Wright Auction

The present work is an exceedingly rare work by Michael Graves, who was perhaps best known as an architect but maintained an avid painting practice—and, beginning in the 1970s, included his own murals in several of his buildings. Graves created this work while living in New York City and sharing a studio with the architect Richard Meier. Together, Graves and Meier painted all summer, efforts that culminated in an exhibition at the Tanager Gallery on 10th Street. Graves estimates that he created approximately 24 paintings in this style just prior to his departure for the American Academy in Rome, where his aesthetic approach shifted drastically, and notes that the red paint in the present work was an especially unusual choice for him.