David Stark Sketchbook: Love Letter: Charles Ledray

I had a lovely weekend in Boston visiting my sister, brother-in-law and Mady, my most adorable niece.

While in Boston, I thought about checking out Charles Ledray’s retrospective at the ICA, but it didn’t really jive with an 8 month old’s schedule. No worries, it’s up through October, and it comes to New York after Boston. I’ll go back to see it when I visit next or I’ll simply pop into the Whitney Museum when they showcase Ledray’s work later this year.

Regardless, I remember when Ledray first came on the gallery scene in New York around 1991 when I first moved to the big city of dreams, and I have admired his work since. It’s funny, I often think a lot about blowing art objects up BIG, but Ledray goes the opposite way, exploiting the Honey I Shrunk the Kids strategy of creation. In making things tiny, Ledray says big things about identity, mostly male identity and whether “clothes make the man” or is it that “man makes the clothes?” And he makes every lit bit by hand, so craft is always part of that equation too.

Ledray hand throws these tiny, tiny pots, all unique and no bigger than a pinky too. (below)

Ledray’s work makes me think a lot about whether I and my group can make décor elements that are tiny AND effective for an event. You know, once a room fills up with 500 people, you see very little that is small. Thus, we focus our energies more on what is grand and rises above the head, but I am determined to figure this one out. We’re always up for a good challenge, and I think it would be a very interesting décor strategy that would defy expectations – that is, if it works! Stay tuned . . .