Artist: Charles Ray

1. How does the use of real things in unexpected places work?
2. Is there any certain message or thought that he is trying to get across?
3. How is representation approached?

1. It creates a sort of surprise. A way of seeing common objects in new context and creating a new idea of what they represent. Achieving what would be hard to do in normal conditions, changes of context help point the viewer into a higher awareness of the object. Perhaps the only way to make viewers to see the mundane is to create a disjunctive quality in the piece.
2. The main idea that seems to come across is the focusing on the commonplace. Ray makes new understandings out of the overlooked, while keeping part of the average, unremarkable charm of the object of divergence.
3. Representation is used because the world that Ray wishes to play with is that of objects. He does not create new objects, only objects that are far enough away from the original to call them art. Of course, the meaning that the objects then possess are also slightly altered to create them anew. It is imperative that representation is used, for without the grounding of reality they would be objects empty of meaning.

THREE MORE...

1. It appears to be that there is little continuity between Ray's work; is there more threads than what i perceive from the text?
2. Does all his work consist of iconic points of departure?
3. Could Ray's work be viewed as personal?