"Ray Johnson: Correspondences"
2000-09-16 until 2000-12-31
Wexner Center for the Arts
Columbus, OH, USA

Ray Johnson: Correspondences, organized by the Wexner Center, will be on view at the center September 16–December 31, 2000. This landmark exhibition, premiered to critical acclaim last year at the Whitney Museum of American Art, is the first significant museum presentation to examine the five-decade career of this extraordinary, yet largely unknown, collagist and mail artist.

A progenitor of pop art and a major force in the development of mail art, especially through the activities of his New York Correspondence School, Johnson was a potent and influential presence in the art world from the 1950s through the 1990s. The exhibition features Johnsons witty, whimsical pieces sent to friends through the U.S. Postal Service, as well as collage and other works that reveal his fascination with word, image, and communication. Artforum wrote that the exhibition sensibly sidesteps the summary and follows the breadcrumbs: early paintings, collages, and roughly 50 years of correspondence. The news: This champion of the ephemeral made astonishingly beautiful work.

A 224-page catalogue on the artist, copublished in hardcover and softcover editions by the Wexner Center for the Arts and Flammarion, accompanies the exhibition.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Ohio

Other Important Exhibitions in Columbus