Lifetime Drawing Edith Bouvier Beale, 2023

For nearly forty years, Covert’s practice has largely evolved around his long-standing Monument and Lifetime Drawing series. His works suggest a confluence of references from folk art to psychedelia, or even the faintly obsessive qualities of fan cultures, while closely recalling Victorian traditions of cataloguing brass and grave rubbings. In his works on paper, Covert carefully fills his drawings with undulating checked patterns, which take upwards of forty hours to complete. Edith Bouvier Beale Sr. and Edith Bouvier Beale Jr., nicknamed Big Edie and Little Edie, were mother and daughter American socialites. Little Edie was a first cousin of Jacqueline Onassis and Lee Bouvier Radziwill. Big and Little Edie are best known for their participation in the 1975 documentary film Grey Gardens by Albert and David Maysles.