Dick Wray: Uncompromising Vision

Dick Wray: Uncompromising VisionJanuary 9-31, 2015

DICK WRAY: UNCOMPROMISING VISION

SPRING 2015 EXHIBITION CATALOGUEBY WILLIAM REAVES FINE ART

DICK WRAY

Considered a tour-de-force in 20th century Texas art, Dick Wray (1933-2011) was an artist of incomparable talent and personality who played a critical role in the development of Houston’s contemporary art scene since the 1950s. Often categorized as an Abstract Expressionist, Wray is best known for his explosive and dynamic abstractions that received numerous accolades from Houston’s critical community as well as notable arts figures across the United States throughout his career.

Born in Houston in 1933, Wray exhibited a predilection for the arts in his early teens and started taking art lessons at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. After a brief period in the United States Army, he attended at the School of Architecture of the University of Houston between 1955 and 1958, and continued his studies at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, Germany. Wray’s immersion in Europe’s self-consciously progressive and experimental art milieu had a lasting effect on him, and determined his subsequent approach to art creation. When he returned from Europe in 1959, he realize how provincial, or “backwards” (as he later described it), the Houston art scene was in comparison to the European and East Coast art centers. It was Wray’s contact with the CoBrA group, more than the New York Abstract Expressionists, which early on impacted and influenced the artistic development of his work.

Upon returning to Texas in 1959, Wray found immediate success, launching his career at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. He took pride in exhibiting his work every year thereafter at least once per year for fifty-one consecutive years, displaying his works in an art gallery or museum setting. Highlights from his group exhibitions include the exhibition Homage to Lithography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1969, the Texas Today exhibition at the Fort Worth Art Museum in 1977 and the Artist’s Eye at the Kimball Museum also in Fort Worth in 1985. Solo exhibitions include the 1977 Paintings and Drawings at the Lerner-Heller Gallery in New York City, the 1986 Dick Wray Monoprints exhibition at the Galveston Arts Center and the Texas Artist of the Year—2000 exhibition sponsored by the Art League

Houston. He received the Ford Foundation Purchase Award in 1962 and the National Endowment for the Arts Artist Grant in 1978. From 1968-1982, Wray served as an instructor at the Glassell School of art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and influenced the next generation of Houston’s contemporary artists, including Ibsen Espada. Wray died in Houston in 2011, having achieved national recognition as well as having been instrumental in transforming Houston from an artistic backwater into a veritable cultural hub. Today, his works are housed in the permanent collections of the following institutions: Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio; and the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

James Harithas, the director of the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, described Wray’s works as “radical and adventurous and powerful—a very Texas approach to Abstract Expressionism.” His dynamic paintings, executed in vibrant colors and suffused with a boundless energy only he could muster, signified a distinct advance in the language of Abstract Expressionism, and showed that Texas artists could take artistic styles developed elsewhere and reconfigure them in radical and inventive ways.

While typically categorized as a child of Abstract Expressionism, Wray uses a visual language which is entirely his own. In what could almost be referred to as “maximalism”, each composition by Wray demonstrates his unrestrained proclivity for color in abundance, as well as a profound and complex layering system. He is a master of color and line—the foundations of his visual language. In Wray’s paintings, each stroke proclaims an expression of grandeur, conveying artistic energy, emotion, and passion. Vibrations emanate from the painted surface

Dick Wray: Uncompromising Vision

DICK WRAY

“If it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing. Don’t be passive as an artist and a human being. Make a live and living response to life.” – Dick Wray

of the canvas in their successful interplay of color, line, and form. Wray’s propensity towards excess leads to explosive color, line, and forms. Within this controlled chaos on canvas, the index of the artist is everywhere—seen in each gestural stroke, smear, and scratch, or in the thick, seemingly wet impasto. As scholar Jim Edwards noted, Wray had an “unabashed love of paint application” and was “an artist with a huge appetite for life and art”. As evidenced through Wray frequently stating, “If it is worth doing, it is worth over doing.”

Upon closer examination, Wray’s works are not based in pure abstraction, but instead reveal a manic oscillation between, or intertwining of figurative elements and abstraction in his work. With ease and dexterity, he moves back and forth, defying categorization. While primarily using what appear to be abstracted forms, Wray’s unique visual language conveys his response and interpretation to the world in which he lives. Frequently seen throughout his oeuvre are elements of humor, whimsy, sexual fantasy and masculine forms, which both surprise and amuse perceptive viewers. It is easy to get lost in the Wray’s mania of expression and layers of complexity. Adding to this, the artist was prone to experimentation and the incorporation of new and blended media. Both the overlay of media and the extreme abundance of color evoke a frenetic kind of contemplation in a viewer. Within these compositions, scatters of figurative imagery, including the notorious Mr. Crow, emerge as well as landscapes—both real and imagined. These visual journeys are filled with challenges and explorations leading to personal discovery, both for the artist and the viewer. Over time, Wray’s oeuvre can be seen as reflections of the different stages of the artist’s ongoing observations and interpretations of society.

Deciphering the underlying meaning in one of Wray’s paintings is purely subjective, just as the artist intended by leaving the majority of his works untitled. Viewers are encouraged to think for themselves, unrestrained by using a potentially limiting descriptive device of language. Upon encountering a Wray painting, every viewer is intended to experience a range of meanings or differing levels of understanding. Moving between bits of the whole, and from the whole back it its smaller parts, movement found in the painterly gesture of color and

line guide the viewer’s response, transmitting a pulse reflective of life—a life being fully lived—bold, intense, and fearless.

Separating the man from his art can be difficult at times, since Wray was such an maverick within Houston art scene, respected and revered by his colleagues. Described by those who knew him as brilliant, passionate, and non-apologetic, it is evident that Wray put himself into everything he created. Every work is a piece of the artist and his uncompromising vision. In these works, a candor and intensity remain and will continue to long after, allowing his voice to still resonate. Just like their maker with a personality “larger than life”, Wray’s paintings are impossible to ignore as they shout for attention across the room. Each work, regardless of scale, is show-stopping and leaves a powerful impact on the viewer. These paintings are in and out of time—part of a fleeting moment of artistic prowess that remains forever, unparalleled in fervor.

Sarah FoltzGallery DirectorWilliam Reaves Fine Art

DICK WRAY

Dick Wray: Uncompromising Vision | Exhibition Checklist

Image Title Date Medium Dimensions

1 Untitled (1110) no date mixed media on canvas 60x71.5 inches

2 Untitled (1206) no date oil on canvas 23x29 inches

3 Untitled (1287) 1986 oil on canvas 24x18 inches



6 Untitled (1329) no date mixed media on canvas 18x24 inches

7 Untitled (1331) 1999 mixed media on canvas 18x24 inches















DICK WRAY

Dick Wray: Uncompromising Vision | Exhibition Checklist

Image Title Date Medium Dimensions




25 Untitled (1792) no date oil on canvas 24x30 inches

26 Untitled (1807) no date oil on canvas 34.5x24 inches





31 Self Portrait 1995 mixed media on canvas 24x18 inches






37 Untitled (1484) c. 1994 oil on canvas 44x60 inches


39 Untitled 1984 mixed media on paper 39.5x30 inches

DICK WRAY

1. Untitled (1110), no date, mixed media on canvas, 60x71.5 inches.

DICK WRAY

2. Untitled (1206), no date, oil on canvas, 23x29 inches.

DICK WRAY

3. Untitled (1287), 1986, oil on canvas, 24x18 inches.

DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY

DICK WRAY

6. Untitled (1329), no date, mixed media on canvas, 18x24 inches.

DICK WRAY

7. Untitled (1331), 1999, mixed media on canvas, 18x24 inches.

DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY



DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY

25. Untitled (1792), no date, oil on canvas, 24x30 inches.

DICK WRAY

26. Untitled (1807), no date, oil on canvas, 34.5x24 inches.

DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY

31. Self Portrait, 1995, mixed media on canvas, 24x18 inches.

DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY

37. Untitled (1484), c. 1994, oil on canvas, 44x60inches.

DICK WRAY


DICK WRAY

39. Untitled, 1984, mixed media on paper, 39.5x30 inches.

DICK WRAY

DICK WRAY

THE ARTIST & HIS WORK

DICK WRAY

WRAY, DICK (1933-2011)

Born in Houston, Texas, Dick Wray has developed a large and respected body of painted and mixed media works. Wray took free art lessons at the Museum of Fine Arts in his early teens, graduated from Lamar High School and, following military service in the U. S. Army from 1953 to 1955, he studied at the University of Houston’s School of Architecture from 1955 to 1958, and later in 1958 he finished his studies at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Wray took off for Europe in 1958 to discover for himself the center of the art world, starting his journey in Paris. The two years spent in Europe laid the foundation for his painting career. Inspired by the art of the abstract expressionists, the work of the artists of the CoBrA group and the New York Abstract Expressionists – which he saw for the first time in Europe – Wray returned to Houston at age 26 knowing for certain that he wanted to be an artist, not an architect.

Wray has a relentless list of exhibition credits dating from his participation in the Special Presentations and Lectures series at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 1961. Highlights from his group exhibitions include the exhibition Homage to Lithography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1969, the Texas Today exhibition at the Fort Worth Art Museum in 1977 and the Artist’s Eye at the Kimball Museum also in Fort Worth in 1985. Solo exhibitions include the 1977 Paintings and Drawings at the Lerner-Heller Gallery in New York City, the 1986 Dick Wray Monoprints exhibition at the Galveston Arts Center and the Texas Artist of the Year-2000 exhibition sponsored by the Art League Houston.

Wray’s work has been honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Artists Grant and has been included in the permanent

collections of such institutions as the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, New York, the Palm Springs Desert Museum in Palm Springs, California, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Witte Memorial Museum of San Antonio and the Barrett Collection in Dallas, Texas.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

• 1933, Born in Houston, Texas• 1955-58, Attends University of Houston, School of Architecture• 1959, Attends Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf, Germany• 1962, Receives Ford Foundation Purchase Award• 1964, Guest artist at Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Los Angeles, California • 1968-82, Instructor at Glassell School of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• 1978, Receives National Endowment for the Arts Artist Grant• 2000, Texas Artist of the Year, Art League, Houston, Texas• 2011, Dies in Houston

Selected Exhibitions

• 1960, 35th Annual Houston Area Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• 1962, Southwest Painting and Sculpture Exhibit, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• 1963, Dick Wray Paintings, Louisiana Gallery, Houston, Texas• 1969, Tamarind Homage to Lithography, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York• 1970, Dick Wray Paintings, The Museum of Fine Arts School of Art, Houston, Texas

DICK WRAY

(Selected Exhibitions continued)• 1971, Other Coast Exhibition, 71, California State University, Long Beach, California• 1975, Dick Wray, one-man exhibition, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas• 1977, Dick Wray: First New York Exhibition, Lerner – Heller, New York, New York• 1979, Fire!, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas• 1985, Fresh Paint: The Houston School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• 1986, Third Western State Exhibition, Western States Art Foundation, traveling exhibition to the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas; and other states.• 1990, Printmaking in Texas: the 1980s, Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas• 1996, Texas Modern and Post-Modern, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• 2007, Texas Modern: The Rediscovery of Early Texas Abstraction, Baylor University, Waco, Texas

DICK WRAY

Selected Public Collections

• Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, New York• The Barrett Collection, Dallas, Texas• Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas• Museum of East Texas, Lufkin, Texas• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas• Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York• Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.• Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California• San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas• Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas• University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma• Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, Texas

WILLIAM REAVES FINE ART2143 WESTHEIMER • HOUSTON, TEXAS • 77098

TEL: 713.521.7500 • EMAIL: [email protected]

CATALOGUE DESIGNED BY ELIZABETH O’DOWD.

Documents

Dick Wray: Uncompromising Vision