[26] Charles Ray, from book from the Charles Ray from exhibition at MOCA, LA

works spans photography, sculpture, performance, film
figurative and abstract

[26, p53]
quote from Richard Koshalek, director of Museum
"...results not only in a consistently fearless expression of his own inner convictions, but in powerful resonance with a much larger world."

illusion, relation of people to things, performance, unstable sculpture encounter

note from Beside One's Self, Paul Schimmel
[26, p79]
Tabletop (1989)
"Tabletop(1989) consists of six objects arranged on a table. At first glance the objects seem stationary. But, in fact, they rotate so slowly that without patience -- the very same patience that one needs to see Minimalist paintings -- the viewer would not know that they are rotating at all." ... "Tabletop permitted him to explore the boundaries of peripheral vision and to create motions that readjusted the line where recognition begins."
-platic tumbler, wooden table, aluminum shaker, terra cotta pot, plastic bowl


[26, p80]
"In Ink Box Ray produced an illusion of solidity that disguised the face that the work was dangerously unstable: a black box with an open top filled to the brim with two hundred gallons of printer's ink, which exactly matched the texture, color, and reflectivity of the black painted sides. Not unlike his earlier performative sculptures, this work has a life of its own -- a fulfillment of Ray's desire to make a sculpture that did not require his direct participation and that would still "come out of the notion of events. I'm really interested in the relationship of people to things."

"Ink Box even spawned a sequel of sorts, Ink Line (1987). Focusing on the same kinesthetic desire to touch, Ray created this stream of black ink that ran like a string from the ceiling of his studio to the floor." 

"After Ink Box and Ink Line, Ray created an even more dangerously unstable, sculptural encounter for the public. He constructed a rapidly rotating circle flush with and the same color as the surrounding floor. Spinning at hundreds of revolutions per minute, this rotating circle was visually indistinguishable from its surroundings. Ray ultimately abandoned this work in favor of Rotating Circle, a circle with the dimensions of Ray's head installed flush in a wall at head level. This circle rotates so rapidly that it appears stationary, so its most pronounced effect on the viewer is auditory: the hum of the motor tips off the unsuspecting passer-by that something is not as it should be. With concise means, Ray created a real event that functioned as an abstraction and an abstraction that functioned in the real world."

[26, p98]
essay by Lisa Phillips
"Ink Line (1987) could be a simple line or thread drawn from floor to ceiling -- but it is ink in perpetual motions, circulating in a thin stream between the two horizontal planes. Rotating Circle (1988) also appears to be a white on white circle drawn on the wall. In fact, it is a disc spinning so fast that its movement cannon be detected by the naked eye. Both of these works contain the potential of disruption and provoke anxiety as soon as you realize that they are: material in action. Again, things do not appear as they seem."
"Sculpture is not static or idealized for Ray, but a temporal medium. All of this work comes out of what he calls "the wildness of the event." Even when he works with imagery, it's about the relationship of people to things, bodies to objects. Figure and experience are key. Ray has said that for him, "sculpture is a verb." (in discussion with author) His work has strong affinities with process art -- like that of Richard Serra who in 1967 compiled a list of verbs ("to roll, to crease, to fold...") that he went on to use as the basis of actual sculpture."
"As much as Ray admires Minimalist sculptors like Donald Judd and Robert Morris, he also deflates them and satirizes them through his interventions and peculiar self-projections."