A Book About Ray

Ray Johnson (1927–95), to whom the tagline “New York’s most famous unknown artist” became forever attached, contributed to pop, conceptual, and performance art, and pioneered correspondence art, using the U.S. mail to show his work and to network with friends, fellow artists and curators, anticipating the power of social media. His witty, allusive text/image collages were filled with celebrity fascination and an insider/outsider stance vis-à-vis the art world. This title focuses on the “art story,” not the life story, Levy (Criminal Ingenuity: Moore, Cornell, Ashbery, and the Struggle Between the Arts) acknowledging that his art and life were, by design, inextricably entangled. Filled with detailed and intelligent readings of key works, Levy’s title sorts out for readers the name-dropping, inside jokes, and visual and verbal puns that suffused Johnson’s art. This title may frustrate in that it doesn’t employ conventional biographical strategies to help readers understand what made Johnson tick. Instead, it’s a careful study of Johnson’s work, with empathy for the life that suffused the art.