Edited with text by Jean-Pierre Criqui, Caroline Bourgeois. Text by Charles Ray, Philippe Sénéchal, Laura Skandera-Trombley. Contributions by Annalisa Rimmaudo.
Between Minimalism and craft: a comprehensive appraisal of Los Angeles sculptor Charles Ray
This catalog accompanies the 2022 double exhibition of Charles Ray’s work at the Centre Pompidou and the Bourse de Commerce (Pinault Foundation). With approximately 30 pieces that depict humans, plants and vehicles in his favored materials of wood and metal, this publication explores the artist’s critical relationship with Minimalism and the uncompromising perfectionism apparent in his work. Whether recreating fallen trees down to every nook and cranny or conjuring a certain vulnerability in his life-size steel figures, Ray’s pieces are characterized by a formal intricacy that lends an almost uncanny realism to his sculptures in spite of their sometimes unusual scale. In his meticulous attention to detail, Ray invites viewers to examine his sculptures with similar intensity. Ray’s work, which clearly draws from a minimalist-formalist focus on material as it explores the possibilities of three-dimensional representation, resists classification and must be experienced on an individual level. Based in Los Angeles, American artist Charles Ray (born 1953) has worked for decades across mediums and materials to create photography series, performance pieces and sculptures. Ray has been the subject of solo exhibitions around the world, and his work has been featured in Venice Biennales in 1993, 2003 and 2014, and in five Whitney Biennials. He is currently represented by Matthew Marks Gallery in New York.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Charles Ray'.
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Fabricated from handmade paper, Charles Ray’s 2020 self-portrait “Return to the One” is reproduced from the catalogue to the double exhibition currently on view at the Centre Pompidou and Bourse de Commerce in Paris—two of four major art venues hosting shows on the artist, including Glenstone Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States. Featuring 300 color images, this volume dives deep into Ray’s uncompromising, formally intricate and often uncanny sculptural work, and includes a wealth of both scholarly essays and subtly brilliant texts by the artist. In his closing essay, 57,000 Pounds, Ray concludes, “Thank you for viewing my art show at the Bourse and Pompidou. The total weight of both exhibitions is 57,000 pounds. Too heavy to leave earth’s gravity. But what I share with you and the sculptures is a physicality embedded in a mentality. This equation cannot run the other way around.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 12.25 in. / 216 pgs / 300 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $68 GBP £41.00 ISBN: 9782844268815 PUBLISHER: Centre Pompidou AVAILABLE: 5/3/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Centre Pompidou. Edited with text by Jean-Pierre Criqui, Caroline Bourgeois. Text by Charles Ray, Philippe Sénéchal, Laura Skandera-Trombley. Contributions by Annalisa Rimmaudo.
Between Minimalism and craft: a comprehensive appraisal of Los Angeles sculptor Charles Ray
This catalog accompanies the 2022 double exhibition of Charles Ray’s work at the Centre Pompidou and the Bourse de Commerce (Pinault Foundation). With approximately 30 pieces that depict humans, plants and vehicles in his favored materials of wood and metal, this publication explores the artist’s critical relationship with Minimalism and the uncompromising perfectionism apparent in his work.
Whether recreating fallen trees down to every nook and cranny or conjuring a certain vulnerability in his life-size steel figures, Ray’s pieces are characterized by a formal intricacy that lends an almost uncanny realism to his sculptures in spite of their sometimes unusual scale. In his meticulous attention to detail, Ray invites viewers to examine his sculptures with similar intensity. Ray’s work, which clearly draws from a minimalist-formalist focus on material as it explores the possibilities of three-dimensional representation, resists classification and must be experienced on an individual level.
Based in Los Angeles, American artist Charles Ray (born 1953) has worked for decades across mediums and materials to create photography series, performance pieces and sculptures. Ray has been the subject of solo exhibitions around the world, and his work has been featured in Venice Biennales in 1993, 2003 and 2014, and in five Whitney Biennials. He is currently represented by Matthew Marks Gallery in New York.
