My dad bought us boats. I think he thought sailing was a wholesome way to spend time.

Charles Ray

Categorized in : Think Way Time Dad

The homeless person or the schizophrenic person talking to themselves are disassociated from their immediate environment. They're off in a fantasy, and it's very similar to what happens on a cell phone.

phone homeless cell-phone fantasy

Boat building is intellectual - everything has a reason. In sculpture, it has a direction.

direction everything boat building

As soon as you step into the water, you are part of the food chain; you're part of the wilderness. That's why I like solo sailing. You can be macho, but at least you can be macho on your own.

step you food water

Sculpture and seams are like boxers and broken noses: They go hand in hand.

go like sculpture broken

I work very slowly.

slowly very work

'The Pink Lady' rides the Freudian wave. You know, the big lady, the relationship to mom - those things are obviously part of that piece.

pink you mom relationship

Being in a room full of my art makes me incredibly nervous because the work always gets damaged when it's shown, and I hate my openings.

me hate work art

The social aspect of being an artist has always made me uncomfortable.

me always uncomfortable artist

I love art, but I've never bought an artwork or even considered it.

even never love art

I wasn't the class nerd, but I was weird. I could tell long stories and be funny, but I couldn't do sports. And I was always terrified of being held back.

weird sports funny long

I've made a lifelong attempt to involve myself deeper and deeper in my medium.

attempt myself deeper made

I think walking is a little more primal than art-making.

i-think more think walking

I've had fantasies in the past of walking across America or some great distance, but it's such a commitment of time that it's stopped me.

great me time past

I do a lot of thinking about my work while I'm walking. More in the early morning when I'm trekking in the mountains. When I'm walking in the city, I think more about people around me - my brothers, my wife, some business situation, commitments.

me business work morning

We're all equal in sleep.

equal sleep

Many of my sculptures take a long time to make.

make long-time time long

Work is rich. It can be looked at psychologically or philosophically or personally. The interpretive nature of work is different than the work itself. The interpretation of work isn't the key to understanding it. I'm worried about making a good sculpture. I'm not so worried about the interpretation of it.

good rich nature work

There's something about a toy to a child where the relationship is real, where the kid is playing, and it's just really amazing.

amazing child real relationship

I've always been concerned with my sculpture. The drawings I do at night at home to relax. And for a long time, I just gave them to friends or my wife and didn't really show them.

relax wife home time

Sometimes in a sculpture, it's interesting to me what's stylized and what's natural and how those forms interrelate, as they interrelate in ourselves.

how me sometimes interesting