When Small Is Big

When I was in Boston in August, I visited the Institute of Contemporary Art and saw Charles LeDray's workworkworkworkwork exhibition http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/onview/.

If you're interested in the power of scale, this is the show for you. For over 20 years, the New York-based LeDray has created handmade sculptures in stitched fabric, carved bone, and wheel-thrown clay. He fashions smaller-than-life men's suits, ties, and hats, as well as scaled-down chests of drawers, doors, thousands of unique, thimble-sized clay vessels, and even stuffed animals.

Sometimes these are shown as single objects and sometimes as part of a larger piece. The exhibition gathers approximately 50 sculptures and installations, including the premiere of Throwing Shadows (2008-2010), an extraordinary ceramic work composed of more than 3,000 vessels made of black porcelain, each less than two inches tall.

As a ceramicist, I was drawn to the show by the promise of miniature pots, but once there, I was even more fascinated by the evocative quality of the installations, especially Men's Suits (2006-2009), his highly acclaimed project made up of three complex, small-scale vignettes of second-hand clothing shops.

CHARLES LEDRAY: workworkworkworkwork is at the ICA in Boston until October 17 and will travel to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.