Pure provocation or programmatic statement? In the case of Van Ray, one can probably assume the latter. For the Düsseldorf artist, who is one of the most successful representatives of German urban art, is regarded as an equally explicit and witty critic of socio-cultural grievances and supposed phenomena of the times. And so the exhibition title serves less as a provocative gesture than as a trenchant summary of his artistic intentions….
Van Ray proves to be a master of mind-bashing: he enriches figurative motifs with diametrical claims, slogans and suggestive questions – and thus deliberately breaks their previous connotation. By counteracting supermodels, pin-ups and comic heroes with language and embedding them in completely different contexts, the 32-year-old endows them with unconventional meanings and thus creates completely new stories. In this way, Van Ray matures into an accomplished storyteller, whose visual worlds captivate in equal measure with eloquence, grace, and humor.
In addition to linguistic and figurative elements, materiality also plays an important role in Van Ray’s oeuvre. He fuses spray paint with such capricious carrier components as rust or high-gloss acrylic glass, which emancipate themselves from the pure background to an essential image segment – and thus en passant raise a third narrative level. This culminates in a brilliant visual language that addresses the viewer directly and calls upon him to be more daring, to think freely, and to show civil courage. And confidently declares war on arbitrariness, conformism and boredom. In this sense: Fuck Boring!
