Charles Ray: Sculpture, 1997–2014
The Art Institute of Chicago
Through October 4, 2015
Galleries 291–299
In his first major exhibition since 1998, Chicago-born sculptor Charles Ray has been given 18,000 square feet of the museum’s Modern Wing 2nd floor gallery. Throughout his career, Ray has largely focused upon illusion and reality. The works are precise, delicate and reminiscent of classical sculpture. 17 works are on display in this expansive area, yet there does not appear to be a need for more inclusions. The opaque monochromatic sculptures present strangely meditative experiences that can, at times, invoke unsettling pause, including insight into our present-day sexual tension due to ongoing blurring of traditional boundaries.
Now residing in Los Angeles, Ray’s work has been frequently hard to classify. In this exhibition, one will see two works Boy with Frog and Huck and Jim which have caused a bit of a stir. The former was commissioned by François Pinault (the high-end luxury magnate) and installed in Venice from 2009-2013. Boy with Frog was replaced with a replica of a 19th-century lamppost that couples once travelled to for a romantic interlude. Huck and Jim was intended for a public space at NYC’s Whitney Museum, but was tabled before completion by its curators due to a sense that the work would be misinterpreted.
The Windy’s “Must See” summer exhibition is certainly Charles Ray: Sculpture, 1997–2014 at AIC. You will be rewarded with a complexity that can be described as beguiling and beautiful, curious and concise, and imaginary and historical.
The following images are courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Charles Ray. Hand Holding Egg, 2007. Collection of Anne Griffin. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.
Charles Ray. Unpainted Sculpture, 1997. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of Bruce and Martha Atwater, Ann and Barrie Birks, Dolly Fiterman, Erwin and Miriam Kelen, Larry Perlman and Linda Peterson Perlman, Harriet and Edson Spencer with additional funds from the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1998. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
Charles Ray. The New Beetle, 2006. Collection of the artist. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks.
Charles Ray. Sleeping Woman, 2012. Glenstone. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks.
Charles Ray. Hinoki, 2007. The Art Institute of Chicago, through prior gifts of Mary and Leigh Block, Mr. and Mrs. Joel Starrels, Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman, and Mr. and Mrs. Roy J. Friedman; restricted gift of Donna and Howard Stone. © Charles Ray 2007, Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
Charles Ray. Shoe Tie, 2012. Private Collection. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks.
Charles Ray. Tractor, 2005. Collection of the artist. © Charles Ray, Courtesy Matthew Marks.
The exhibition, co-organized by the Art Institute and the Kunstmuseum Basel, can only be seen in the United States at the Art Institute, and six sculptures—including four new works in their museum debut: Horse and Rider, Huck and Jim, Dog (Silver), and Girl on Pony—are on view only in Chicago.
For additional information on the exhibit and the work of Charles Ray, please visit:
AIC Exhibition View – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F089wmFipTQ
Charles Ray Talk @ Moderna Museet – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zFQO9Qb_30
Charles Ray – http://charlesraysculpture.com/
Review by Chester Alamo-Costello
