Ray who? Michael who?
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Ray Johnson has been classified as a Pop Artist. A > more adequate way to > describe him is to say that he was first within Pop > Art, among Pop Artists, but > later he was next to Pop Artists. He made many > collages which he designated > as âportraitsâ? of other artists. His collage > and his mail-art were > elaborations of each other, governed by the same > images and ideas. I have written a > statement only as a preliminary sketch of the theme > of âfriendshipâ? in the > life and art of Ray Johnson. --Bill Wilson > Ray Johnson: en rapport > Paul Cezanne, August 1906: "â¦le tout est de > mettre le plus de rapport > possibleâ¦" > Ray Johnson responded to the work of other artists > as friendly > communications to him. He reciprocated with > collages which mention those artists with > whom he experienced rapport. He often mailed > envelopes with notes addressed to > those artists, sometimes with apt images that > related to a work of art, or > to the artist, but always obliquely. He never > pointed toward something deep > and perhaps secret, but always directed attention > toward something available on > the surface. With his collages, his notes, and > his lists of artists, Ray > constructed more inter-relations with more artists > than anyone else working > from 1955 to 1995. > Ray also began to send apt images in the mail to > people other than artists. > By 1961, he began to ask a recipient to relay an > image to someone else, > thereby starting a network which in 1962 became the > New York Correspondance > School of Art. Ray encouraged thousands of people > to participate in > disinterested aesthetic actions, rather than remain > outside art as observers. By 2006, > when postal mail has overlapped electronic mail, > Rayâs network has become an > international self-developing system of > communication of aesthetic images and > events. > By the summer of 1944, his seventeenth summer, Ray > found himself safe in a > field of visual artists. By the summer of 1948, > he was a twenty-year-old > student at Black Mountain College, near Asheville, > North Carolina. As he wrote > in 1974, he "â¦walked with Bill and Elaine one sad > evening up 'the Road' when > they had just heard about Gorky's death." Bill > and Elaine were Willem and > Elaine de Kooning, painters who befriended Ray. So > he walked and talked > with American painters who were struggling with the > achievements of Henri > Matisse and Pablo Picasso in the European > background, and of Arshile Gorky in the > American foreground. > At Black Mountain College, Ray studied the > relativity of colors with Josef > Albers. He became friends with Robert > Rauschenberg, Sue Weil, Cy Twombly > and Stan Vanderbeek. He learned beside students > like Ruth Asawa, Arthur Penn, > and Kenneth Snelson, a group who were mediating > among European Modernisms and > American pragmatisms. Forty years later, he > reproportioned his chronology > by adding that he had studied painting with Lyonel > Feininger. When opening > himself toward Europe, he listened to music like > Gregorian chants that he had > never heard in Detroit, but also 20th century music > from France and Germany. > When opening himself toward Asia, he studied Asian > religio-philosophies to > learn how to get ideas to disappear into actions, > and how to fill abstract > concepts with concrete sensory experiences. > Through books and magazines from Europe, Ray became > familiar with the > paintings of Paul Klee, the poems of Antonio > Machado, and the collages of Kurt > Schwitters, John Heartfield and Hannah Hoch. He met > Walter Gropius and > Buckminster Fuller. Thus he arose in the midst of > Euro-American Modernisms in > painting, music, dance, poetry, films, architecture, > and other arts, including the > weaving of Anni Albers. He followed the gaze of > immigrant European artists > toward Native American Indian art, design and > architecture, and participated > in the study and use of the languages of Mayan > glyphs, images which spoke to > Josef Albers, Ben Shahn and Max Ernst. > By 1952 Ray lived on Monroe Street, in Manhattan, > with artists who used the > hypotheses of art in ordinary events. He deepened > his acquaintance with > his neighbors, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, two > artists who adapted the > methods and values they used in the construction of > their arts to their c > onstruction of daily life. John and Merce made > indeterminacy a way of life, but > always in tension with precise knowledge and > information, so that no one would > eat a poisonous mushroom, and no one would break a > bone. Richard Lippold > brought Ray to concerts, parties and openings of > shows in galleries, where he > met artists like Philip Guston, Kenzo Okada, > Alphonse Ossorio, Hedda Sterne > and Marcel Duchamp. Thus Ray learned Modernism > through direct acquaintance > with artists, their families and friends. At that > time, Manhattan in the > 1950s, the realms of visual art and of music had > several hierarchies, but the > number of people in any group was small. Although > most artists might stay > within their group of sympathetic artists, Ray was > taken to uptown mansions and > downtown lofts, where marginal artists found > margins in which to reconstruct > life and art. > Settled in New York, Ray was able to exhibit with > the American Abstract > Artists, because at Black Mountain College he had > studied with Ilya Bolotowsky. > As late as 1953, the visual and verbal thoughts of > painters such as Piet > Mondrian inspired paintings of Euclidian geometric > forms. In those early > paintings in oil, Ray experimented with abstract > objects like circles and > triangles, shapes conveying ideas that can lead out > of sensory experience toward > transcendence. But after a few seasons in New > York, his thoughts turned from > participation in transcendental forms like perfect > circles and pure triangles, > toward immersion in total immanence. As he > subsumed his earlier formalist > education in the construction of his own > life-world, he began to work with > images clipped from magazines and books. So where > once Ray's abstract paintings > had been answerable to the paintings of Piet > Mondrian, soon photographs of > Mondrian became images in collages. The aesthetic > theories of Mondrian > seemed less useful and inspiring than stories of > Mondrian improvising dance-steps > to Boogie Woogie. > Ray's friendships with Black Mountain College > faculty and students opened > him to new acquaintances in New York, so that he > met and interacted with > George Brecht, Robert Watts, Oyvind Falhstrom, > James Lee Byars, Christo and > Jeanne-Claude. He developed friendships with > artists in Chicago, especially Karl > Wirsum, and he responded to artists in California > who seemed to travel light > though the history of art. He felt visually > refreshed by early issues of Art > Forum for which Ed Rusha composed the pages. Rusha > gave even a casual > reader an experience of visual design that > acknowledged the surface of the page > as a page, rather than manipulating sight away from > the page toward a product. > Rusha and Ray in different ways both used the > format of advertisements as > an expressive art-supply. > While Ray was a man who felt empty in several ways, > and who philosophised > about Nothing and Nothingness, he appreciated > artists and their art. The > artists he responded to, often in collages > sometimes designated as "portraits," > were the artists with whom he felt rapport. After > all, he and Andy Warhol > were together, if only by being far from their > birth-places, and not in danger > of sinking back into them. Ray would discover a > rapport with an artist, and > then reveal that rapport in a collage, even in a > series of collages. His > collages, as works of art about artists, did the > work of gratitude, giving back > appreciations for having been given so much. Ray > often gave away more art > than he sold, because he preferred the rapport of > the gift to the anxieties > of a sale. He eagerly made his portraits of > artists, but he was reluctant to > sell them lest he appear to be profiting on a > friendship. So he worked, > largely ignoring fame and the sales of art, to give > thanks for the astonishments > that each artist gave him. > On that plane, Picasso was like a distant cousin > who had been generous with > Ray, doing favors that prompted him to return the > favors, even though they > had never met. Yet in his own time and place, he > could actually sit in cafés > with Barnett Newman and Ad Reinhardt, or drink beer > with aesthetic kinfolk in > the Cedar Tavern. He was aware, touching the hands > of Elaine and Willem de > Kooning, that he touched the hands that had touched > the hands of Arshile > Gorky. In later years he sat at a table in Studio > 54 with Salvadore Dali and his > body-guard, whom Ray identified as Dali's > life-guard. > A work of art is constructed of interrelations > among parts, and one of the > parts of Rayâs art was often the name, or the > silhouette, of another artist. > Because of his collages of Elvis Presley and James > Dean from 1956-57, he was > among the earliest Pop artists. Then, as Pop Art > became popular, he became > the artist who used the names and images of other > artists in his own art. > He made collages about Pop artists like Andy Warhol > and Roy Lichtenstein. His > collages about Pop artists over-lapped his > mail-art, wherein he mailed apt > images about Pop Art to other artists, including > Jim Rosenquist and Chuck > Close. While the implications of most Pop Artists > were folded into their > paintings for unity and coherence, the implications > in Ray's images stretched > toward other artists with whom he felt alliances. > Thus he was next-of-kin to > Fluxus artists, while preserving a flexible > interval between him and them. He > played games of near-&-far, of now-you-see-me, > now-you-don't, with Alison > Knowles, Dick Higgins, Robert Filliou, George > Macunias, Daniel Spoerri and Geoff > Hendricks, while making perhaps twenty portraits of > Yoko Ono and Nam June > Paik. He was an artist who introduced many > artists to each other, ignoring > hierarchies, constructing his own network by > bringing Arman to meet May Wilson. > He was aware of the American Declaration of > Independence, and in 1976 > combined John Hancock, who signed the Declaration > conspicuously, with Lynda > Benglis. He juxtaposed a silhouette of George > Washington with a profile of Marcel > Duchamp as two of his liberators. > Ray was the artist of cross-references and > inter-relations. He and his art > were independent, but he was dependent on his > inter-dependencies. So, given > the satisfactions of complex interrelations, how > could Ray judge that > everything is nothing? Part of an answer is in > the status of relations and > interrelations in Ray's experiences. He was so > intent on constructing fields of > relations that anything that entered his life must > yield interrelations, or else > not exist for him. Thus Ray was open to > communication with anyone, anywhere, > at any time. He held "meetings" for people, among > them many artists, where > nothing much happened but their meeting en rapport. > Another answer is that > Ray was aware that abstract relations are not > physical, but are as weightless > and immaterial as aesthetic illusions. For Ray, > interrelations were felt at > the time as evanescent, always about to evaporate > like dew, and they were > ephemeral, often as brief as haiku noting the > disappearance of dew. His > relations with other artists existed in his > consciousness of them, a consciousness > he had long planned to end by drowning. So, even in > astonishingly full > moments of immediacy and indeterminacy, he sensed > that relations were ultimately > nothing. Yet while he lived, the rapports Ray > Johnson constructed with other > artists, and among other artists, were everything. > > It's another blog! http://flobberlob.blogspot.com/ ___________________________________________________________ The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. 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