Just three sculptures, varying in scale and material, yet all in white-toned materials make up LA-based sculptor Charles Ray’s current show at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea. To the rear of the gallery, a nearly 9-foot-tall woman constructed of handmade paper steps out of her pants. Towards the front of the space, two slightly larger than life-size supine nude male figures made from marble lie dead on a platform while on a nearby pedestal rests a small, crashed car, hand-crafted from hundreds of pieces of paper. Though apparently unrelated, the three sculptures suggest that one could be doing something as ordinary as getting dressed one moment and encounter an accident or even death the next. Titled 8FLU100 after Ray’s own license plate and referring to a crash suffered by the artist, the car is both testament to the fragility of life and statement about art’s role in processing reality. (On view through June 29th).
