Existing comment:
Ray Johnson (1927–1995, American)
Mail art to Sam Wagstaff, 1968
In 1962 Ray Johnson's informal practice of linking people with and through collaged correspondence was formalized into what he and his collaborators called the New York Correspondence (later spelled "Correspondance") School. This invitation to a "mysterious" meeting of the group offers participants -- who may only have known each other through correspondence -- the opportunity to meet face to face. The list includes names of artists primarily known within the mail art network, like Richard C and George Ashley, as well as notable figures in the art world, such as Betty Parsons, Cy Twombly, Richard Serra, Christo, and Joseph Kosuth. And yet art world hierarchies are leveled, as everyone is represented by a pert-eared bunny rabbit. The proliferation of this bunny symbol (Johnson's signature motif) could represent the rapid reproduction of correspondences within the network or the dually underground and aboveground lives of its rabbits. Additionally, black triangles can often be found in Johnson's mailings, which in this context appear like abstract bunny heads. However, they may also address the triangular nature of Johnson's mail art network in which: person A receives a piece of mail from Johnson with instructions to send it along to person B, who contributes accordingly and may send it onward to an additional recipient or return it to Johnson (thus closing the triangle).
-- Isabelle Martin and Miriam Kienle |