Ray Johnson Mail Art Analysis

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Ray Johnson is the artist I chose to review. Ray Johnson was named the father of mail art. Johnson being named the father of mail art is why I chose to examine his artwork as a whole and not just one piece. He was born October 16, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan. Johnson was raised in a working-class neighborhood. He attended a job-related high school where he enrolled in an advertising art program. He studied at the Detroit Art Institute and spent a summer in a drawing program at Ox-Bow School in Saugatuck, Michigan. Johnson left Detroit in the summer of 1945. Later, Johnson registered and spent three years at Black Mountain College (Richard Feigen and Company, 2015). Ray Johnsons artwork was interesting in the way that he created a symbol that later became his signature. Ray Johnson would draw a childish bunny on his mail art. The bunny later became non-biomorphic when he mixed features of a bunny with a duck to create a more ABSTRACT character. Also, Johnson at times would demand that others take part in his creative collaborations. He would do so by adding the phrase "Add to and return to Ray Johnson." Mail art was understood to be one of the new communication arts. It was a…show more content…
The subject matter of my artwork is based on a love letter to my husband while Ray Johnson’s subject matter was mainly various types of advertisements. Ray Johnson liked to send his artwork to other artists so they could add what they wanted to his work (Online Archive of California, 2007). I added the same quote “add to and send to” so that my husband could take his new house key out and add a letter to send back. Also, I added content similar to Ray Jonson, such as the “I miss you” logo in the right-hand corner that is similar in shape to Ray Johnsons “lucky strike” logo. Ray Johnson’s personal signature was his abstract bunny while my personal signature is an

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