Charles Ray: Figure Ground will be the artist’s first significant New York exhibition in over two decades. It will present Ray’s work not all together in a dedicated gallery, but interspersed throughout the museum, literally in the “space between” the works of the permanent collection. Often described as an artist’s artist, Charles Ray’s work resists simple characterization; it is not always obvious, for example, how much it exists in dialogue with artistic traditions of the past. The Met can illuminate this aspect of Ray’s work by providing an art historical context that few other museums around the world could. And it can provide an unparalleled opportunity for the artist to work in direct dialogue with his sources of inspiration and identification.
Charles Ray: Figure Ground
2007
The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program was launched in 2007 in celebration of the Foundation’s 20th Anniversary. This unprecedented program donated over 28,500 photographs by Andy Warhol to educational institutions across the United States. More than 180 college and university museums, galleries and art collections throughout the nation participated in the program, each receiving a curated selection of original Polaroid photographs and gelatin silver prints.