Throwing Shadows, 2008–2010, Black porcelain, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York, Photo: Tom Powel. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater
©Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork (Skira Rizzoli: 2010)
American artist Charles LeDray is known for his work with sculpture, but the ceramic vases, hand-stitched clothes, and bone carvings he creates are far from typical and they are often only centimeters in height. A talented miniaturist, LeDray has been working since the 1980s to create art that, though tiny, seems to tackle large-scale themes. His most famous work inspired the title of this book: workworkworkworkwork (1991) was a series of miniature clothes and items, ranging from shoes and jackets to books and plates, delicately placed along the sidewalk in New York’s Cooper Square.
Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork is a survey of LeDray’s work to date accompanied by critical essays from three experts: Adam D. Weinberg, Jen Mergel, and James Lingwood. Weinberg examines LeDray’s earlier pieces in the theme of time and context, which LeDray often skewed with works like Milk and Honey (1994-6), a daunting number of miniature white porcelain pieces arranged “in a seemingly endless sequence.” Weinberg explores LeDray’s methodology in a historical light, comparing him to photographers and artists like August Sander (1876 - 1964) and Allan McCollum.
Mergel focuses primarily on the clothes LeDray creates and how they engage the viewer. She will cite a particular work, such as Charles (1995), an actual-sized work coat with miniature garments dangling from it, and then asks a number of questions about its potential meanings. She examines the social commentary of LeDray’s works like Pride Flag (1996), a rainbow flag in grayscale, illustrating anything from the “passage of anti-marriage laws [to] a lost fervor in the cause.”
Lingwood writes on “MENS SUITS,” which was LeDray’s 2009 exhibition in London. Miniature formal clothing was displayed as though for sale in a department store or in a person’s closet. In his piece, Lingwood considers the implications about contemporary culture. For instance, the ties, splayed on a circular table so their ends are all interconnected, reflects society’s disturbing emphasis on conformity.
Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork also holds stunning shots of his most notable sculptures, with no squinting required and comes out alongside LeDray’s exhibit of the same name at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, which will be on view through October 17. The show will then travel to The Whitney in New York from November 18, 2010–February 13, 2011.
Charles, 1995, Fabric, thread, metal, plastic, paint, 19 x 14 x 4 ½ inches (48.3 x 35.6 x 11.4 cm), Collection of Barbara and Leonard Kaban, Courtesy of Sperone
Family, 1985–1988, Fabric, thread, leather, ribbon, buttons, embroidery floss, horsehair,shirt label, 11 ½ x 8 ¼ x 7 inches (29.2 x 20.9 x 17.8 cm), Private collection, Photo: Tom Powel. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater
Hole, 1998, Fabric, thread, plastic, wood, metal, 19 ¼ x 13 ½ x 2 ½ inches (48.9 x 34.3 x 6.4 cm), The Cartin Collection, Courtesy of the artist. [Photo credit unknown]
Cricket Cage, 2002, Human bone, 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 x 1 7/16 inches (8.6 x 8.6 x 3.7 cm), Private collection, United Kingdom, Photo: Tom Powel. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater
Come Together, 1995–1996, Fabric, thread, embroidery floss, steel, 34 1/2 x 26 x 6 1/2 inches (87.63 x 66.04 x 16.51 cm), Collection San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Purchased through a gift of Kimberly S. Light, Photo: Ian Reeves.
