log in
Enter site
Login to use Arthive functionality to the maximum
Ray Johnson. On Demand
Exhibition November 26, 2021 − March 21, 2022
The Art Institute of Chicago holds an exhibition "To Ray Johnson. I'll see you there.".
The exhibit features some of his best-known works, including the 1956-1958 collage "Oedipus" ("Elvis Presley No. 1"), in which he added creepy red squares and blood-like paint splatters and some eroticizing blue eyeshadow to an advertising photograph of Presley.
Ray Johnson committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 67 by jumping off a bridge on Long Island. Now his legacy is becoming a subject of research. The exhibition is timed to coincide with a special event: in 2018, the museum acquired a collection of Johnson's work that belonged to William S. Wilson, his friend, correspondent and, the exhibition curators believe, co-author. Receiving Johnson's quirky collages in the mail, Wilson collected and catalogued them. "New York's most famous unknown artist," was the nickname given to Ray Johnson in 1965. More than 50 years later he is equally remembered for his spectacularly provocative collages, his seminal role in the development of Mail Art and his contribution to such movements as pop, fluxus and conceptual art.
Prepared according to the materials of the website of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The exhibit features some of his best-known works, including the 1956-1958 collage "Oedipus" ("Elvis Presley No. 1"), in which he added creepy red squares and blood-like paint splatters and some eroticizing blue eyeshadow to an advertising photograph of Presley.
Ray Johnson committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 67 by jumping off a bridge on Long Island. Now his legacy is becoming a subject of research. The exhibition is timed to coincide with a special event: in 2018, the museum acquired a collection of Johnson's work that belonged to William S. Wilson, his friend, correspondent and, the exhibition curators believe, co-author. Receiving Johnson's quirky collages in the mail, Wilson collected and catalogued them. "New York's most famous unknown artist," was the nickname given to Ray Johnson in 1965. More than 50 years later he is equally remembered for his spectacularly provocative collages, his seminal role in the development of Mail Art and his contribution to such movements as pop, fluxus and conceptual art.
Prepared according to the materials of the website of the Art Institute of Chicago.
