Vija Celmins

In the early 1970s, Celmins began creating highly detailed images of small patches of a rock-strewn desert floor. These joined a repertoire of subjects from the natural world which remain central to her work to this day, including ocean waves, clouds, the night sky, and the surface of the moon. Based on black-and-white photographs, these pencil drawings and lithographs emphasize both the individuality of each closely scrutinized bit of terrain, seen in the unique shapes of each rock and shadow, as well as a vast abstract pattern of texture, stretching beyond the page in every direction.