An engaging and scholarly introduction to the wide-ranging work of a pioneering 20th-century artist
Ray Johnson (1927,dash;1995) was a celebrated maker of small-scale collages whose works influenced movements including Pop Art, Fluxus, and Conceptual Art. Trained at Black Mountain College, Johnson subsequently settled in New York and founded a mail art network known as the New York Correspondence School; he was extraordinarily adept at using social interaction as an artistic endeavor.
Drawing on the vast collection of Johnsonmsquo;s work at the Art Institute of Chicago, this volume gives new shape to our understanding of his artistic practice and features hundreds of pieces that include artistlsquo;s books, collages, drawings, mail art, and performance documentation. In keeping with Johnsontsquo;s democratic, rhizomatic, and antihierarchical ethos, this indispensable resource on the artistrsquo;s oeuvre contains 21 short essays by various contributors that allow readers to dip into and out of the book in a nonlinear manner of their own choosing.
