Charles Ray is known for his uncanny realistic sculptures of cars, plants, and humans. He has been making art for nearly five decades.  He was born in Chicago and moved to L.A. in 1981 where he continues to reside. Ray has had a flourishing international career; exhibiting his work in numerous prestigious venues as three Venice Biennales, Kunst Museum Basel, five Whitney Biennials, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and Documenta to mention only a few. Although he is known for such iconic figurative works as the Family Romance, 1993; Boy with Frog, 2009 and his experimental statues.  Ray’s work does not lend itself to specific categorization since it is ever evolving and rooted in the time and place of its conception

His early work was in the vein of Minimalism and Post-Minimalism however over time he rejected the formalist sensibility characteristic of Mark di Suvero or Richard Serra because he felt it was too cold and wanted to his work to be closer to humanity.  Since the 1980s he has been exploring contemporary sculptural practice. Evident throughout Ray’s oeuvre is a deep connection with the history of sculpture besides an ongoing exploration of space, mass, texture and material.  His adaptation of antique themes, comprising the equestrian portrait, reliefs and the reclining nude emerges in Ray’s contemporary/historical sculptures.  Time and again Ray’s work is unconventional and mysterious – his eccentric pieces prompts viewers to pause and ponder.  An attention to obsessive detail is obvious in each meticulously constructed work.  Every part and element of a piece is judiciously structured to rouse the viewer to examine the numerous surfaces of a work.

Charles Ray has worked closely with Glenstone since the opening of its Pavilions. His current installation in Room 8 at Glenstone represents the third in a series of revolving shows that alter every eighteen months. Ray equates Room 8 as a type of laboratory where he can freely engage within the space to explore links and ideas from earlier pieces, new works and the different grouping of materials and scale.  According to Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone, “The new installation sheds light on the evolution of Charles Ray’s daring sculpture practice, from his early years when art making was akin to solo improvisation, to recent works involving increasingly complex and technically demanding fabrication that can require the labor of several years.”

Entering Room 8 one experiences a tranquil sensibility pervading throughout the austere white chamber.  The installation is comprised of only several minimalist sculptures and a recent self-portrait constructed in 2020.

Shown for the first time, this stark white sculpture, Return to the one (2020), right, made from cast paper is a self-portrait of Charles Ray who sits on a white pedestal with his feet dangling above the floor.  Dressed in ordinary clothes, a solitary man stares out into the room, depicting a sphinxlike expression.  One might think he is lost in thought, perhaps reflecting on the early Minimalist pieces, constructed decades ago prior to when he shifted his focus from making skilled abstract sculpture to working in three dimensions of the human body.  A connection is sensed with this new work and another introverted self-portrait Horse and rider, 2014 placed near the entrance to the Pavilions (end of article, left).

Balance and instability pervade in Untitled, 1973-1974 (above).  A sizable angle iron attached to a steel plate weightlessly floats in the space. Only fastened to the corner of a small white pedestal one wonders why this tentative work doesn’t topple or fall. At the time of its making Ray was influenced by the constructivist British artist Anthony Caro whose abstract metal sculpture is characterized by assemblies of found industrial objects including steel, bronze, lead, and wood.  Charles Ray has stated “Caro’s work was like a template; I saw it as almost platonic. The formal rules as taught by Brener were a kind of nourishment for me. The actual working in the studio was, in a sense, the expression. I was taught that the finished sculpture was maybe the end of the paragraph. Once a sculpture was completed it was critiqued and put back on to the scrap pile. This way of working taught me to think sculpturally rather than to think about sculpture. At this time in my life the historical context of high Modernism was really beyond my grasp. I saw Caro as super-contemporary. His work was, and is, so alive. It bridges the gap between the inside and outside of my mind.[1]

 Another piece, representing what Ray refers to as “odds and ends” salvaged from an industrial heap is Untitled, 1971 depicts an implementation about gravity and suspension.  A tilting tower of stacked cinder blocks is steadied by the heaviness of a linear steel rod that punctuates floor of the bare gallery space. The two very different materials and their placement achieve an incongruous sensibility.

At the far end of Room 8 is the piece “32 x 33 x 35 = 34 x 33 x 35” (1989), above, right, an aluminum cube with grey surfaces suggestive of Donald Judd’s minimal floor sculpture The box structure appears to be placed on the gallery floor however, upon closer examination the bottom of the cube is sunk into the floor, accounting for the disparity in the measurements of the height of the outer and inner walls.  Known for his art permeating illusion and displacement, this piece portrays an enigmatic sensation of perception.

Making the ordinary strange is fundamental to Charles Ray’s art.  This third installation at Glenstone brings together pieces that span several decades from early sculptures of the 1970s to a recent work. It casts light on the development of Charles Ray’s complex thinking and experimentation and wet one’s appetite for the exhibition Charles Ray: Figure Ground opening at the Met on 31^st January 2022.  This in-depth overview of his career will unite a selection of many sculptures from every period of Ray’s career including photographs from the 1970s and 1980s and drawings.  After seeing this micro display at Glenstone the MET’s forthcoming overview of Charles Ray’s artistic practice will provide an abundance of work to see and food for thought.

By Elaine A. King, Contributing Editor

Organized in Close Collaboration with the Artist, The Presentation is the Third in an Ongoing Series of Rotating Exhibitions by Charles Ray in the Pavilions

Glenstone Museum, Potomac, MD

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[1] Charles Ray and Michael Fried, “Early one Morning…,” Tate Etc., Spring 2005, 5.