The place is empty, silent — it feels abandoned. It's all men's clothes, in a place where lifestyles go to die, or to be given new life. At the same time, it's the graveyard of our intentional-obsolescence, mass-produced American Dream. But, of course, all the clothing and furnishings are handmade by LeDray. Which turns it into a manifesto about the value of recycled materials and handcraft at a time when art and the world are ever more synthetic and manufactured.
LeDray began the installation in 2006, before the economy tanked, and he spent three years crafting it all. From the vantage point of our Great Recession, it feels like a going-out-of-business sale at the end of the world.
Read Greg Cook's blog at gregcookland.com/journal.
EDITOR'S NOTE: In a previous version of this story, Greg Cook incorrectly stated that Jen Mergel initiated the Charles LeDray exhibit. In fact, the idea for the survey was initially proposed by former ICA curator Nicholas Baume.
Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Charles LeDray, More 
, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Charles LeDray, Charles LeDray, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Charles LeDray, Charles LeDray, Less 
