Walking into the galleries of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, one might expect to encounter ancient nudes rendered in marble. It’s surprising, then, to see a life-size Japanese cypress sculpture of a shirtless, man-bunned, flip-flopped young man, balanced elegantly atop a wooden plinth and titled—of all things—Archangel. But then again, as a work by the always-surprising sculptor Charles Ray, it makes a lot more sense.

In the Met’s “Charles Ray: Figure Ground,” the artist’s first solo show in a New York museum in almost 25 years, pieces from every part of his career are on display: from his works based on Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to faithful incarnations of objects and a family of fiberglass nudes, holding hands like twisted dolls.

Ray is having a moment. Right now, in addition to “Figure Ground,” the artist’s work is on display in an ongoing presentation at Glenstone, in Potomac, Md.; the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Bourse de Commerce in Paris; and come April, it will be featured in the Whitney Biennial.

Below, see images from “Charles Ray: Figure Ground,” on view at the Met Fifth Avenue through June 5, 2022, and additional shows.