In a series of collages entitled Offal, Wray collects the debris generated as by-products during his sculpture making and painting practice and recycles it. These compositions of scrap paint and paper are mounted in his own frames fashioned from sticks, papier-mâché, and even small geodes, giving them an almost Victorian appeal. The artist’s relatively restrained sculpture Sanctuary counterbalances the curvaceous and flamboyant Preacher’s Daughter suggesting a penchant for the philosophizing of both the Dalai Lama and Dolly Parton.

Wray’s conglomerations of seemingly contradictory ideas and impulses appropriately echo the polarities inherent in discussions of faith. While it is interesting to consider the juxtapositions of synthetic and natural materials, or representational imagery and passages of pure material gesture, it is clear that polemic distinctions are beside the point. The energy that pulses throughout the works creates infinite invisible paths of connection while Wray’s handiwork provides further evidence that God is in the details.


Randy Wray was born in 1965 in North Carolina and lives in New York. His work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions during the last fifteen years, most recently at Kate MacGarry Gallery, London. In 2002 Wray received a Guggenheim fellowship and in 2003 had his first solo museum show at the Weatherspoon Art Museum.