boring. --- [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 === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/co.u8A/gOaOAA/Zx0JAA/fuDrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailinglist from Sztuka Fabryka http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be/ Yahoo! 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