Join Kelly Baum, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator, and Brinda Kumar, Associate Curator, to explore this exhibition, which presents the work of one of the most important contemporary artists: Charles Ray (born Chicago, 1953). For over five decades, Ray has experimented with a wide range of methods, including performance, photography, and sculpture, the medium for which he is best recognized today. In the process, he has utilized a variety of materials and pioneered major advances in sculptural production. Ray’s work addresses in elliptical, often irreverent ways not only art history, popular culture, and mass media but also identity, mortality, race, and gender. This exhibition unites sculptures in a range of materials from every period of Ray’s career with key early photographs, exploring central aspects of his challenging and sometimes provocative oeuvre. Located at The Met, whose collection the artist has studied closely for many years, "Charles Ray: Figure Ground" features a suite of works whose arrangement in space forges subtle connections between objects and viewers.
Learn more about the exhibition: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2021/charles-ray
The exhibition is made possible by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation.
Additional support is provided by the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund, Angela A. Chao and Jim Breyer, Lisa and Steven Tananbaum, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, and the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.
The catalogue is made possible by Lannan Foundation and The Sachs Charitable Foundation.
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© 2022 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A Virtual Tour of Charles Ray: Figure Ground
Explore the exhibition Charles Ray: Figure Ground with two Met curators in this virtual tour, which presents the work of one of the most important contemporary artists.
20 min. watch
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