First edition of Early Works by Ivars Gravlejs (2015) First impression Large format paperback in as new condition Signed and dated by Ivars Gravlejs Published by Mack About Early Works satirises of the rules and aesthetic principles of the adult world. Eight sections trace the various phases of Gravlejs's encyclopaedic curiosity, including ‘Conceptual’, ‘Pop art’ and 'Actions', parroting the tropes of contemporary art, in emanations of the readymade (a pop art stockpile of soda cans), fake historical reconstructions (toy soldiers in battle) and surreal compositions (the erotic union of eggs and a sausage). In all the images, Gravlejs uses the gesture of art as an instrument of anarchy, lampooning his classmates and teachers in fiendish montages, winning small victories in the domain of the image. Pandemonium reins, as the young Gravlejs shapeshifts across the pages, here pretending to be 'dead drunk', sprawled out like an inebriated adult, and there caught in a mock act of terrorism, shifting railroad tracks in theatrical dark glasses.
