January 26 – February 26, 2024 | Rex Ray: Luminate
Rex Ray, Thamnolyrica, 2013, mixed media, collage on linen, 72 x 72″
In the realm of American abstract art, Rex Ray stands out as a luminary, and is celebrated for his groundbreaking pop aesthetic that transcended conventional boundaries. His artistic legacy is etched into the walls of prestigious museums, including the Denver Art Museum, SFMoMA, San Jose Museum of Art, and the Berkeley Art Museum.
Ray’s artistic journey was not confined to the gallery space; rather, it unfolded across a diverse canvas that spanned major museum collections, a PBS documentary, and the pages of numerous influential books. Before establishing himself as a force in the world of fine art, Ray left an indelible mark on the music industry by designing iconic album covers for luminaries such as David Bowie and The Residents.
Online Virtual Exhibition | Keep the Ball Rolling
Walk through our VR exhibition!
Adaptability is key to finding happiness, and Turner Carroll has adapted to a new way of hosting exhibitions to bring you happiness during this unusual, homebound time. We are thrilled to bring you our first 3-D, interactive, virtual exhibition. Our exhibition Keep the Ball Rolling takes its title from Judy Chicago’s Resolutions series work by the same name. The exhibition features vibrant works that inspire mind, body, and heart. Please enjoy our guided tour feature, which allows us to walk you through the exhibition as if we’re walking through the gallery together. You can also click on the View/Purchase on our Website button next to each artwork, to read our descriptive analysis of the specific artwork. Enjoy the exhibition and please send us your comments and suggestions on our new platform, at info@turnercarrollgallery.com.
View the works in the exhibition on our web page here.
SFMOMA: Paul Klee and Rex Ray
Paul Klee and Rex Ray
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
May 20 – October 9, 2017
Our dear friend and artist, the late Rex Ray, is in an exhibition at SFMOMA with art world luminary Paul Klee. This intimate exhibition places artworks by Swiss-born modernist Paul Klee (1879–1940) alongside dazzling paintings by San Francisco artist and designer Rex Ray (1956–2015). Although separated by both time and place, their works share stunning formal similarities, including an exploration of geometric forms, the use of vibrant color, and playful, organic designs. Among other works, the exhibition features a rarely exhibited, intimate pastel watercolor by Klee from 1917 and an eye-popping collage by Ray from 1999. A link to the exhibition is here.
Turner Carroll Exhibition Glow Reviewed in VAS
Our exhibition “Glow: Riffs on Beauty Reigns” received a very nice recommendation on Visual Art Source. Writer and critic Drew Lenihan noted that the show “…show explodes with painterly vibrancy and poetic abstraction.” We at Turner Carroll love painting, and are very pleased that exhibition artists Rex Ray, Jamie Brunson and Fausto Fernandez were written about that way. A link to the article on VAS is here.
A pdf of the article may be downloaded here.
Rex Ray: September 11, 1956 to February 9, 2015
The world lost a great artist and human today. Rex Ray passed away after a prolonged bout with cancer. Please note that all remaining works by Rex Ray will go to his estate for legacy and museum planning. No more works will be for sale excepting his limited edition “Pyzinerol” lithograph.
Rest in peace my friend.
Rex Ray on the Cover of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book 2014!
As a part of NM’s growing interest in fine art (they collected a Rex Ray for their Walnut Creek, CA store in 2012) they chose a piece by our own Rex Ray for the cover of the 2014 Christmas catalog. According to the Neiman Marcus blog “For this issue of the book, Ray’s energetic swoops and swirls form a fanciful interpretation of NM’s house symbol, the butterfly. The piece began as a painting/collage, with digital flourishes and color-play added later. “This type of hybrid allows me to mix a wide variety of mediums–painting, block-printing, silk screening, as well as digitally augmented coloring and textures,” explains Ray. “In this way, the work references nature, ornament, technology, and modernism.”
Rex Ray in Important and Fabulous Exhibition at the McNay Museum
“Beauty Reigns: A Baroque Sensibility in Recent Painting” runs from 11 June through 17 August at the McNay Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Included in the show are pieces by artworld favorites Beatriz Milhazes, Ryan McGinness and Annette Davidek. The exhibition, curated by René Paul Barilleaux, “assembles thirteen emerging and mid-career abstract painters whose art is characterized in whole or part by high-key color, obsessive layering of surface imagery, use of overall and repeated patterns, stylized motifs, fragments of representation, and a tension between melancholy and the sublime. To date, little focus has been placed on works which celebrate the exoticism, exuberance, and optimism found in the work of the painters assembled in Beauty Reigns.”
Dallas Art Fair
We just wrapped up a very successful Dallas Art Fair at the F.I.G. here in Dallas. Major works by Deborah Oropallo, Hung Liu, Rex Ray and Gino Miles found new homes. Most of these collections are important ones, and we are very pleased by the results. We look forward to more opportunities here in the future!
December 13, 2010 – JanuaryY 17, 2011 | Rojo: New Works by Hung Liu, Rex Ray, Inez Storer and Deborah Oropallo
Explorations on a theme of red. Jealousy, communism, love, blood, cocktails, sunset. We all know red is a very powerful color. What does it do in a painting? Come see these important American artists wrangle, submit, and explore what red means in a painting.
Opening Reception Friday, 13 December 2010 from 5 to 7pm.