Curriculum Vitae

Education

• 1958 Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf, Germany
• 1955-58 University of Houston, School of Architecture

Grants & Awards

• 1978 National Endowment for the Arts, Artists Grant
• 1962 Ford Foundation Purchase Award, Southwest Painting and Sculpture Exhibition

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 2003-04 Dick Wray: The Station • Art Car Museum, Houston, TX & Fort Worth, TX
• 2002 Dick Wray • Texas Christian University, Moudy Gallery, Fort Worth, TX
• 2000 Dick Wray - Texas Artist of the Year: Exhibition • Art League Gallery of Houston, Houston, TX
• 2000 Dick Wray: 236 Paintings • ArtScan Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1999 Dick Wray: Installation • ArtScan Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1998 Dick Wray Prints • Lesikar Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1997 Recent Work • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1996 Dick Wray Paintings • Commander's Point Art Space, Lake Travis, Austin, TX
• 1996 Dick Wray • State Thomas Gallery, Dallas, TX
• 1995 Milagros Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
• 1995 Recent Work • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1994 Museum of East Texas, Lufkin, TX
• 1993 Recent Work • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1990 15 Year Anniversary Exhibition • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1989 Recent Paintings • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1988 Selected Prints - Shark's Incorporated • Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Boulder, CO
• 1987 Paintings • Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
• 1987 Monotypes • Cathleen Gallander and Susan Lang Gallery, New York, NY
• 1986 New Paintings • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1986-90 Dick Wray Monoprints • Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
• 1985 Paintings and Monotypes • Southwest Craft Center, San Antonio, TX
• 1985 Dick Wray Paintings 1975-1985 • Midtown Art Center, Houston, TX
• 1984 Monotypes • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1984 Gateway Gallery Experience • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
• 1983 Recent Work • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1981 Drawings • Patrick Ryan Gallery, Bryan, TX
• 1981 Paintings and Drawings • Moody Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1980 Response • Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX (catalog)
• 1977 Paintings and Drawings • Lerner-Heller Gallery, New York, NY
• 1977 Paintings • Pelham-Von Stoffler Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1976 Pelham-Von Stoffler Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1975 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
• 1970 Dick Wray Paintings • The Museum of Fine Art Houston, School of Art
• 1967 New Arts Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1966 Dick Wray, New Works • St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX
• 1963 Dick Wray Drawings • Louisiana Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1960 Dick Wray Paintings • Louisiana Gallery, Houston, TX
• 1959 Dick Wray Paintings • Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2004-05 Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection • Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, TX
• 2004 Made in Houston • Brazos Annex, Houston, TX
• 1999 International and American Contemporary Fine Art • T. Curtsnoc Fine Arts, North Miami, FL
• 1998 Paint as image • T. Curtsnoc Fine Arts, North Miami, FL
• 1998 Works on Paper • State Thomas Gallery, Dallas, TX
• 1997 Committed to Abstraction: Ten in Texas • Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX
• 1997 AMST Collects in the Modernist Era: 1972-1997 • The Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
• 1997 Establishment and Revelation • Dallas Visual Arts Center, Dallas, TX (catalog)
• 1996 Texas Today: Three Exhibitions • Dick Wray Paintings, Fort Worth Art Museum
• 1996 Two Views of Houston • San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, TX
• 1996 Manif II • Unna Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• 1996 Texas Modern and Post-Modern • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1995 Convergence • Davis/McClain Gallery Pennzoil Place, Houston, TX
• 1993 Artists' Progress: Seven Houston Artists, 1943-1993 • Glassell School of Art/ Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (catalog)
• 1992 On Line: Drawings by Texas Artists • Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, TX
• 1992 New Texas Art • Cheney Coles Museum, Spokane, WA and Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
• 1992 Singular and Plural • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1991 Island Inspired • Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX (catalog)
• 1990 Printmaking in Texas: The 1980's • Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
• 1990 Tradition and Innovation • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1989 Just Paint • Blue Star Art Space, San Antonio, TX
• 1988 Zoomorphism: Animals in Art • Trammel Crow Center, Dallas, TX
• 1988 Texas Art: An Exhibition • The Menil Collection, Richmond Hall, Houston, TX
• 1987 Third Coast Review • Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO (catalog/tour)
• 1986 Third Western States Exhibition • The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (catalog, traveling)
• 1986 Collaborators: Artists Working Together in Houston 1969-1986 • Glassell School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (catalog)
• 1985 Fresh Paint: The Houston School • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. Traveling to PS1, New York (catalog)
• 1985 American Abstraction: Four Currents • Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY (catalog)
• 1985 Works on Paper: Eleven Houston Artists • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1985 The Artist's Eye • Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, TX
• 1983 New Art from a New City • Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (catalog)
• 1981 Houston Artists Exhibition • Stavanger Museum, Stavanger, Norway
• 1979 Fire • Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (catalog)
• 1978 Art of Texas • The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 1977 Texas Today: Three Exhibitions • Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX
• 1974 Abstract Painting and Sculpture • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1968 Hemisfair • San Antonio, TX
• 1968 Homage to Lithography • Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
• 1965 100 Contemporary American Drawings • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
• 1962 Southwest Painting and Sculpture Exhibition • Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Museum & Public Collections

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
• Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
• Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY
• Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX
• Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, TX
• San Antonio Museum of Art, TX
• Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX
• Palm Springs Desert Museum, CA

Corporate Collections

• Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY
• Wilson Industries, Houston, TX
• Paine-Weber/Rotan Mosle, Houston, TX
• Pennzoil Company, Houston, TX
• Southwestern Bell Corporation, Houston, TX
• Harris County, Houston, TX
• Upjohn Pharmaceuticals, Kalamazoo, MI

Teaching Experience

• 1980-1998 University of Houston School of Art, Houston, TX
• 1975-1985 Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 1970-1975 Visiting Artist, Rice University, Houston, TX

Bibliography

• Johnson, Patricia C. "Abstract Mind at Work," Houston Chronicle, February 13, 2000.
• Kalil, Susie. "Dick Wray: The Painting is the Thing," Art in America, June 1997.
• Miller, Robert. "The Abstract Expressionism of Dick Wray," Texas Monthly, March 1992.
• Wilson, William. "Houston's Dynamic Art Scene," Los Angeles Times, October 15, 1988.
• Barnes, Steve. "Dick Wray: Chaos and Order," Artweek, September 1984.

Legacy

Dick Wray (1933-2011) was recognized as one of Houston's most significant abstract expressionist painters. His energetic, gestural works were characterized by bold brushstrokes, vibrant colors, and complex layering techniques that captured the energy and chaos of the modern world.

Throughout his career spanning more than five decades, Wray influenced generations of Texas artists and helped establish Houston as an important center for contemporary art.