Plank Piece I-II

Charles Ray's famous Plank Piece from 1973 was an extension of what was at the time a prevailing Minimalist aesthetic in America into a concern with the body and with the principle of self-reliance. Believing that sculpture was predominantly an activity rather than an object or a form, Ray applied the formal logic and cold geometric simplicity of Minimalism to his own body in the form of a simple but dramatically effective piece of engineering. Working out the plane that both divides and supports the body, in two different examples, Plank Piece I and Plank Piece II, Ray suspended his own body against a wall using only a rectangular wooden plank. Applying the central engineering principles of weight, balance and gravity to his own body, Ray simply, elegantly and somewhat humorously managed to suspend himself with this minimum of means. In doing so he practically demonstrated his belief in sculpture as both object and activity by transforming himself into a work of art that was itself a demonstration of an action.