Charles Ray
Sculpture/Performance
West Gallery

American Artist, California

PRESS
RELEASE

This exhibition by California artist Charles Ray will incorporate four geometric steel sculptures. These constructions are designed to reference various modes of domestic furniture and decorum but also have the potential to evoke ambiguous machine-like or industrial qualities. The parallel drawn with industrial machinery is enhanced during the performances by the stark juxtaposition of these fabricated metal structures with the supple human form. Serving to support the artist's body weight or acting as an extension of the live human form, a cohesive illusion between the body fragment and the support structure, and the artist and his product, is achieved.

In-gallery performances by the artist will be presented every half hour, from 1 to 5 pm, Wednesday, March 27 through Saturday, March 30. The independent sculptures will remain on exhibit during the balance of the exhibition.

Charles Ray received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in 1975, and his Masters of Fine Art from Rutgers University, New Jersey, in 1979. Since 1974, he has participated in exhibitions in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Lexington, Kentucky; New Brunswick, New Jersey; and New Orleans and Los Angeles, California. Charles Ray is currently the Head of the Sculpture Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he has taught since 1981.