Ray Johnson born in 1927 attended the experimental Black Mountain College in the late 40's where he studied painting. The college closed in 1957. In 1948 Johnson moved to New York and by 1954 he stopped painting and began creating collages. He is most well known for his founding of the New York School of Correspondance, a network of artists sending mail art to one another. He was also one of the first performance artists, in 1961 he began his Nothings, performances that seemed to have absolutely no rhyme or reason. Ray Johnson was and still remains an enigma. He is known as the most famous unknown artist. In 1968 Johnson disappeared to Long Island and refused to exhibit his work until his death in 1995. In the documentary, How to Draw a Bunny released in 2003, friends of Johnson remember him as some kind of guru, a mystical art shaman who's life and death was a work of art. I'm not sure if Ray Johnson was as he has been described or just fooled everyone with his puns and ciphers. Either way Ray Johnson, with his apathy toward the art world and it's benefits, is an inspiration and a reminder as to why we started making art in the first place.
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