Michael Ray Charles’ '(Forever Free)' sculpture a powerful critique at UT
Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman, 10 October 2015
There is still much miscommunication, Charles says, between the past and the present. And progress intellectually, politically or socially will reveal existing wounds that each generation must grapple with. Compiling wooden crutches into wheels poised to move is Charles’ nod to those African-American scholars who have done the best with whatever a university establishment has handed them.
Landmarks Debuts Michael Ray Charles Sculpture at UT
Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle, 09 October 2015
Charles may no longer teach at UT – in 2014, he joined the faculty at the University of Houston, his alma mater – but he's the first artist with strong ties to the 40 Acres to be hired by Landmarks to create a new work for its collection, an achievement that adds even more value to this already priceless collection of public art.
Michael Ray Charles Adds Installation to UT’s Landmark Collection
Paula Newton, Glasstire, 08 October 2015
Best known for his vintage advertising-looking paintings and his aggressive use of caricature and racial stereotypes, this huge sculpture seems out of place. But the “location of the work within the Gordon-White Building is key to its meaning,” writes catalogue essayist Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw.