Iva Gueorguieva

Reinvigorating” is a mild word for what Iva Gueorguieva does in her large works, which combine collage, drawing and painting with nearly a dozen printmaking techniques. Those were developed, of course, to make multiples copies of a single original. But “Reinvigorating Prints,” at George Washington University’s Luther W. Brady Gallery, features one-of-a-kind works. The L.A. artist’s pieces are not finished when pulled from the press; she adds scraps of paper or fabric and garnished freely with ink, watercolor and oil and vinyl paint.

Working on a wall-filling scale associated more with painting than printmaking, Gueorguieva draws from several 20th-century styles, including cubism and abstract expressionism. Although there are hints of representation, most of the pictures are all-over compositions, with no central focus. Many feature exuberant colors and gestures, yet two shades are in shades of gray, with only glimmers of brighter hues. There’s also “Rolling Anvil,” whose principally white and gray shades are accented by swoops of bold red, cut and collaged into the whole. The limited palette is typical of printmaking, and quite effective. But this multi-strata work only begins to show Gueorguieva’s flair for layering diverse tones, images and processes.