Ray Johnson

Ray Johnson, born in 1927 in Detroit, Michigan, was a Pop Art figure of the 1950s. He attended an occupational technology high school where he focused on advertising art. Johnson studied at the Detroit Art Institute and at Ox-Bow School in Saugatuck, Michigan, he spent a summer in a drawing program. He was awarded scholarships to both BMC and the Art Students League in New York, NY. In 1945, he attended BMC, where he was heavily influenced by Josef and Anni Albers. Johnson spent almost three full years at the college. He also studied with Lyonel Feininger and Robert Motherwell. Over the course of those years at BMC, he came to know John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Willem de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, Richard Lippold, and Ruth Asawa. After his time at BMC, he went on to be a prolific and engaging artist, creating book covers, collages, photography, and performance art. Johnson was one of the first Conceptionalists and known for various interesting forms, such as his “Please add to and Return” pieces and his “Moticos”. His first exhibition was 1965 at the Willard Gallery in New York, NY and he has had exhibitions every year since. He has had numerous book covers published and the cover of Interiors magazine in November 1947 among other magazine covers. Johnson died on January 13, 1995 in Sag Harbor, NY.