Charles Ray's Animal and Self at American Academy in Rome

The American Academy in Rome hosts a solo exhibition of American sculptor Charles Ray (born 1953 in Chicago). The show features a life-size puma sinking its teeth into a dog, a hunting scene inspired by Ray's hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains and ancient sculptures at the Musei Capitolini. A second sculpture depicts the artist naked and crouching to tie his shoes, presenting himself as a sacrificial victim to the predator. Together, the works create a parallel between animal and human as unwitting victims of a world rushing toward ruin and extinction. The exhibition draws on Ray's long-standing interest in vulnerability and survival in spaces constricted by human encroachment.