CHARLES RAY - A four dimensional being writes poetry on a field with sculptures

CHARLES RAY (1953-)

When asked to organize an exhibition on a theme of his choice, the Los Angeles artist Charles Ray chose that of moral and amoral space, which he took from sculptor Alberto Giacometti's description of one of his own works. A four dimensional being writes poetry on a field with sculptures is the title Ray gave to both the exhibition, which took place at Matthew Marks Gallery in New York, and this small, beautifully-produced volume, which accompanies it. Key artworks include Giacometti's 1948 "Standing Woman;" an untitled stack piece by Donald Judd; an ancient Greek kouros from roughly 600 B.C.; a sculpted piece of island marble from Attica; Mark di Suvero's 1960 "Hankchampion;" Jeff Wall's 1990 "A ventriloquist at a birthday party in October 1947;" and a series of 1969 sculptures entitled "The Fall of Man" by the American folk artist Edgar Tolson.
 

Charles Ray is an American sculptorknown for his strange and enigmatic sculptures that draw the viewer's perceptual judgments into question in jarring and unexpected ways. In 2007, Christopher Knight in the Los Angeles Timrs wrote that Ray's "career as an artist…is easily among the most important of the last twenty years."