Hazel Larsen Archer & Ray Johnson

Ray Johnson and Hazel Archer-Larsen were influenced by Josef Albers’ subject of matière and the surface qualities of material. Within Albers’ category of imagery falls structure, facture, and texture. It is based on the idea of a deeper visual understanding of objects. Although, “texture” was mundane to Albers as a way to describe this concept. Johnson wrote home to his parents in 1948 that he borrowed a camera from Archer-Larsen and began taking photos of brick walls, grass, and mud in the spirit of matière. The portrait of the back of Ray Johnson’s head prominently displays the texture of it. Johnson continued to work with studies of surfaces for his collaged work, or Moticos. The two collaborated on several of the works, one specifically showing Ray Johnson in the campus’ Quite House.