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Ray Johnson
"Why Didn't You Tell Me About Your Bicycle" Ray Johnson, Drawing, Mail Art

January 1968

About the Item

Ray Johnson Why Didn't You Tell Me About Your Bicycle, Janurary 1968 Red ink on postcard 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches Once described as New York’s “most famous unknown artist,” Ray Johnson was a renowned maker of meticulous collages and a pioneering figure in the worlds of Pop, Fluxus, Conceptual Art, and performance in the 1960s. From live events to exchanges via the postal service, Johnson treated social interactions as a type of artistic endeavor. He was the founder and impresario of the first international mail art network, the New York Correspondence School (NYCS), established in 1962. After studying at Black Mountain College, an experimental institution in western North Carolina, from 1945 through 1948, Johnson settled in New York City. There, he established himself as a painter of geometric abstractions while also pursuing a career in graphic design. By the mid-1950s he had destroyed much of his early work and was producing a type of collage he called “moticos” (a nonsensical anagram of the word “osmotic”), which could be hung on the wall, mailed in envelopes, or featured in impromptu performances. As the collages evolved and began to incorporate images of celebrities, including Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Shirley Temple, Johnson found himself at the forefront of what would become known as Pop Art. Later, by organizing and choreographing the activities of the NYCS, he participated in the burgeoning Fluxus movement whose interdisciplinary activities blurred the boundaries between art and everyday life. For the remainder of his career until his death in 1995, Johnson cultivated a position for himself that would be both inside and outside the art world: extraordinarily well-networked but critically savvy and always resistant to the structures and constraints of traditional art spaces.
  • Creator:
    Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995, American)
  • Creation Year:
    January 1968
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)Width: 5.5 in (13.97 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Unique WorkPrice: $750
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1841216047532

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