Ray Johnson was 'New York's most famous unknown artist' - an elusive character in the NY 60s scene, playfully hiding, provoking and entertaining with collages, performance and conceptual pieces. I am fascinated by Johnson for his mystique - the idea of 'the artist' as a hermitic genius, never fully realised by those around him until death. Like his contemporary Andy Warhol, Johnson had a penchant for pop culture - celebrating and perhaps simultaneously mocking figures such as Monroe, Elvis and the obsession surrounding them, and repeating commercial motifs such as Lucky Strike cigarettes throughout much of his work, depicting a fixation yet deep understanding of the world around him in all its puerile glory. I feel I can relate to his term 'moticos' - collages made from magazine images, sketchbook-friendly in their simple composition and smallness. Often the collages of my own that I like best are the smallest and simplest ones (see OUCH below). I am also interested in the process by which he created some of his work - by way of mail art, a movement that acknowledges Johnson as a major proponent. The idea of art as fluid, temporary, able to be passed around and recycled, edited and shared between different creative minds is something that appeals to me - in a way, I often undertake this process on my own, re-using elements of my work again and again in a constant flux of artistic construction.
WATCH How To Draw a Bunny (feature length documentary on the artist and his work)
LISTEN Locust Valley by Manic Street Preachers and Hey Ray by John Cale (songs about Johnson)
WATCH How To Draw a Bunny (feature length documentary on the artist and his work)
LISTEN Locust Valley by Manic Street Preachers and Hey Ray by John Cale (songs about Johnson)