D
Berman Gallery is pleased to present the first gallery
exhibition in Austin by internationally recognized
Austin artist Michael Ray Charles.Charles will create
an installation entitled "The Property of ..."which
will explore our culture ’s relationship with sports
and entertainment, and how people involved in those
fields are affected by commodification and the lure
of access.
Utilizing symbols from the game of basketball,Charles
will construct an environment suggestive of a basketball
arena,a jazz lounge,and a vaudeville tent.
"In
the areas of entertainment and sports,Charles has
found a seemingly limitless source of material.(His
works recall)the prevalent image of entertainers who
perform for money and must fulfill their audience
’ expectations in order to survive and earn a living...The
persistence of stereotypes for all people,whether
based on nationality,skin color,economic standing,gender,
or numerous other descriptions,continues to be difficult
to eliminate.Charles ’s (works)reflect the
idea of the persistence of memory and the unfortunate
presence of stereotypes that are seemingly inescapable."
-Cheryl Brutvan,Senior Curator,Albright-Knox Art Gallery
(catalog essay)
"Michael Ray Charles is a painter whose carefully
crafted and faux-aged canvases and works on paper
draw attention to race relations historically and
in contemporary society.His concerns range from how
tobacco and liquor companies target marketing to minorities
to the depiction of African Americans in the entertainment
and sports industries to concepts of all-American
(i.e.,white)
beauty."
-Don Bacigalupi in Michael Ray Charles,1989-1997:An
American Artist's Work
Charles was born in Lafayette,Louisiana.He graduated
from McNeese State University where he majored in
advertising and played basketball.He received an MFA
from the University of Houston, and has exhibited
widely in museums and galleries.Recent exhibitions
have been in Baltimore, Brussels,Barcelona,Paris,New
York,Dusseldorf,Atlanta,and Cincinnati.Charles is
an associate professor of art at the University of
Texas at Austin.
View
Installation Images
Read
Charles' Profile in the Austin American Statesman
|
