Ray Johnson
Untitled (Collage By Ray Johnson), 1971
Mail art. UNIQUE. Type-written letter on Xerox, rubber stamp.
9h x 6 1/4w in / 22.86h x 15.88w cm
RJ019
$ 800.00
Ray Johnson (1927-1995) was an American artist seminal in the Pop art movement of the 1950s, an early conceptualist and a pioneer of the mail art network- the New York Correspondence School. His preferred medium was collage through which he would bring together disparate visual and verbal materials to the point where the lines between life and art were completely blurred. For Johnson, mail art involved self-dissemination, the pleasant recruitment of others and an extensive gift economy. The whole concept of authorship was completely disrupted as was the commodification and institutionalization of art. Johnson’s mail art was markedly private while fostering community. His whole identity was reflected in it through its ever-evolving, metamorphic raw materials, methods, intersections, and collaborations. Characters like Mickey Mouse and Helena Rubenstein were present in many of Ray's mailings as he was attracted to stars and cultural icons. All of his mailings were specific to the recipients and nothing was left to chance. Everything had a defined meaning although indecipherable to most.
