Ray Johnson

1927 (Detroit) / 1995 (Sag Harbor)
Living in : New York
Working in : New York

Raymond Edward "Ray" Johnson was an American artist. Known primarily as a collagist and correspondence artist, he was a seminal figure in the history of Neo-Dada and early Pop art and was described as "New York's most famous unknown artist". Johnson also staged and participated in early performance art events as the founder of a far-ranging mail art network – the New York Correspondence School – which picked up momentum in the 1960s and is still active today. He is occasionally associated with members of the Fluxus movement but was never a member. He lived in New York City from 1949 to 1968, when he moved to a small town in Long Island and remained there until his suicide. On January 13, 1995, Johnson was seen diving off a bridge in Sag Harbor. Many aspects of his death involved the number "13": the date; his age, 67 (6+7=13); the room number of a motel he had checked into earlier that day, 247 (2+4+7=13), etc. Some continue to speculate about a 'last performance' aspect of Johnson's drowning.







 Go back     |      Back on the top