Fay Ray: I AM THE HOUSE

Employing a wide array of images and materials, these new works usher in various references to transformations that occur during the initial and end stages of life. Eggs, flowers, and desiccated corn signify the fragility of existence, while portals, crushed beer cans, and cacti complicate the references to beauty and luxury that have long been staples of the artist’s visual lexicon.

In her studio, Ray collects, categorizes, and arranges dense combinations of materials and images that are then photographed. The photographs are subsequently printed, cut, reorganized, and photographed again. The resulting abstract photomontages are densely layered with a wealth of symbols.

To make her three-dimensional works, the artist assembles stones, shells, and other natural materials with cast-aluminum objects, wire, and chain. The resulting suspended sculptural masses borrow the metaphors and composition of traditional religious relics, with a nod to the occult. Conflating worship and desire, Ray’s sculptures indicate the presence of a body that is rematerialized through a mysterious yet systematic organization of abstract forms.

Bridging the artist’s photomontages and suspended sculptures are a new series of dye-sublimation prints on aluminum that are cut into irregular shapes. These new works directly link image and object, allowing the artist to explore physical structure and various pictorial references simultaneously.

Altogether, Ray’s work negotiates both material and metaphorical references to the body as a fragile, yet resilient vehicle equally capable of desire, lust, pain, and sorrow.