Charles Ray
Baled Truck
machined stainless steel (2014)
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York [link]
Seeing it fifty feet out upon entering the gallery, it may appear like a giant, metallic candy bar. On approach though, Baled Truck elongates (decompresses) revealing its quasi-cubistic structure, yet it still remains below you. How to enter? Or as Ray posited, “Does looking at it carry you, or do you carry it?” Understanding the loss of the Figure – the body – through the simulated compression as signaling, in effect, a pedestal or the virgin block, Baled Truck, with its machined curves like shimmering drapery, manages ultimately to recover the body via negativa. As incorruptible as a saint.
~ Cameron Cuming
images courtesy of Matthew Marks
