Ego-Go
Ruth Knight Laxson
SMA2005.04.1
lithograph print
1994
24.5 x 35 inches
62 x 89 centimeters
about the work
Ruth Knight Laxson's print Ego-Go is printed in stark black ink over white paper. Pulled during her time as an artist in residence at Rolling Stone Press in Atlanta GA, Laxson combines delicate, doodle-like swirls with handwritten text and bold, geometric black shapes. Hidden within these black shapes are additional words and images which can only be seen when viewing the print at an angle; this effect is achieved by layering two inks of the same color but differing finishes atop one another.
about the artist
Georgia artist Ruth Knight Laxson was an Atlanta-based printmaker, sculptor, painter, and bookmaker. She studied printmaking, painting, and drawing at the Atlanta College of Art (now part of SCAD) and began making artist books in 1980. She won numerous grants and awards throughout her career, including being invited as a guest artist at Rolling Stone Press in 1993, when she created the two works "Ego-Go" and "Ego Echo" in Spartanburg Art Museum's collection.
Laxson exhibited her work in dozens of solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, including GA, NY, VA, LA, MD, TX, and FL, and internationally in England, Canada, and Germany. Her works can be found in the collections of MoMA, NYC; the V&A and Tate Gallery in London; the Rhode Island School of Design; MOCA GA, and the High Museum in Atlanta, GA. She passed away on June 1 2019 at the age of 94.
MOCA GA Director Annette Cone-Skelton remembers Laxson as “a remarkable woman of great strength and talent, with an insatiable thirst for wisdom and understanding of the human experience...she was an inspiration to all who knew her and her abundant imagination.”
Special thanks to MOCA GA and Blair Hill for research assistance.
