RANDY WRAY

Early Years

Born in Reidsville, North Carolina in 1965, Randy Wray grew up in the American South, an environment that would later inform his fascination with everyday materials and overlooked objects. He attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for high school before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Wray has lived and worked in New York City for over three decades, drawing on his formative experiences of collecting discarded items and observing the world around him to shape his artistic practice.

Randy Wray Artworks

Wray’s contemporary art practice is defined by his inventive approach to painting, sculpture, and assemblage. His works often incorporate found objects, textiles, and paint, resulting in tactile, accretive surfaces that invite multiple associations.

Assemblage and Material Experimentation (1990s–2010s)

Wray’s early assemblages in the 1990s established his signature use of cast-off materials and layered construction. In “Waste Not Want Not” (Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, 2008), Wray presented large-scale sculptures constructed from recycled elements. His painting and sculpture practice continued to evolve, as seen in Limb (2011), a wall-based collage featuring bottles, a sneaker, and a three-dimensional fibreglass form, and Hero (2016). This sculptural work evokes both figurative and geological associations.

Recent Developments (2020s)

Wray’s recent paintings, such as those exhibited in Prehistory (Karma, New York, 2 May–22 June 2025), are characterised by their Rorschach-like forms and earthy hues punctuated by electric accents. Writing in Ocula Magazine, Nora Griffin notes, ‘Wray’s work transforms the discarded into objects of contemplation, blurring the line between the accidental and the intentional’.

These works, developed over months or years, embody the evolution and ambiguity central to Wray’s practice. His sculptures, including The Musician (2014) and Plume (2016), continue to explore themes of transformation and material alchemy.

Public Commissions

• ‘Urban Renewal’ mural, Brooklyn, New York
• Site-specific installation, North Carolina Museum of Art

Awards and Accolades

• Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Grant, 2020 and 2013
• Irving Sandler Prize, 2019
• Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Grant, 2019
• New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting, 2015
• Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program, 2011
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 2002
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1990
• Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (date not specified; residency at Atlantic Center for the Arts)

Exhibitions

Randy Wray has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.

• Prehistory, Karma, New York, 2 May–22 June 2025.
• Inauguration, Lo Brutto Stahl, Paris, 2023.
• The Colour of Pomegranates, MAMOTH, London, 2023
• 15 Orient, Brooklyn, 2022
• A Particular Kind of Heaven, 70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, 2024
• The 14th Floor, Gratin, New York City, 2024
• Scouring, Meredith Rosen, New York City, 2022 * Their Private Worlds Contained the Memory of a Painting that had Shapes as Reassuring as the Uncanny Footage of a Sonogram, Matthew Brown, Los Angeles, 2022
• The Marble Mouth Oracle, Below Grand, New York City, 2021
• Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Grant Honorees Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Massachusetts, 2021
• Notebook, 56 Henry, New York City, 2019
• Objecty, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York City, 2016
• Waste Not Want Not, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, 2008
• Cool, Collected & In Context, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, 2009
• Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, 2008

Randy Wray FAQs

Ocula | 2025