Solo show
Charles Ray: Figure Ground
24 Jan 2022 — 5 Jun 2022 at Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
Charles Ray: Figure Ground brought together a selection of sculptures by the Los Angeles-based artist Charles Ray, presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022.
Known for his uncanny, meticulously crafted figures that challenge perception and scale, Ray has long occupied a singular position in contemporary art. This exhibition offered visitors a rare opportunity to encounter his work within the grand architectural setting of the Met, inviting reflection on the human form, materiality, and the boundaries between the real and the artificial.
Figure Ground explored the dynamic relationship between Ray's sculptures and the spaces they inhabit, asking how a figure defines — and is defined by — its surroundings.
Known for his uncanny, meticulously crafted figures that challenge perception and scale, Ray has long occupied a singular position in contemporary art. This exhibition offered visitors a rare opportunity to encounter his work within the grand architectural setting of the Met, inviting reflection on the human form, materiality, and the boundaries between the real and the artificial.
Figure Ground explored the dynamic relationship between Ray's sculptures and the spaces they inhabit, asking how a figure defines — and is defined by — its surroundings.
About the artist
Charles Ray
1953
Charles Ray (1953) is an American sculptor known 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 Times wrote that Ray's "career as an artist…is easily among the most…
About the artist →About the venue
Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5,727,258 visitors in fiscal year 2025, it was the most-visited museum in…
