Puzzle Bottle
1995

Puzzle Bottle is a precisely-scaled wooden model of Charles Ray, assembled inside a corked wine bottle like a traditional model ship. For Ray, the sculpture involved an attempt to “use the figure as a structure to build a space that becomes a kind of abstract space,” taking himself—and his hobby of sailing—as subject. The sculpture’s dislocations of scale and context force viewers to adjust their perceptions and reconsider how the human figure occupies space. The miniature figure of Ray stares out from the confined space of the bottle, his worried gaze seeming to question not only how he got there, but also suggesting a larger artistic—and perhaps existential—quandary: is it possible to overcome the limitations of our experience as isolated individuals?