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CHICAGO—Dubbed “New York’s most famous unknown artist,” Ray Johnson was a pioneer of mail art, a groundbreaking figure in the worlds of Fluxus and Conceptual Art, and an early Pop artist whose use of celebrity imagery heralded Andy Warhol’s own appropriation in the 1960s. Indefinable and prolific, he circulated much of his work outside official channels, questioning the boundaries of where and when art occurred. On view from November 26, 2021 to March 21, 2022, Ray Johnson c/o brings together more than 200 works from across the artist’s multidisciplinary practice in the most exhaustive exhibition of Johnsoniana in over two decades. Presented exclusively at the Art Institute, it is organized by Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, with Jordan Carter, associate curator, Modern and Contemporary Art.

Emphasizing collaborative authorship as key to the artist’s perennial self-reinvention, Ray Johnson c/o draws from the recently acquired William S. Wilson Collection of Ray Johnson—the original archives of the New York Correspondence School (NYCS), an international mail art network established by Johnson in 1963. Johnson’s informal group of friends, acquaintances, and strangers would engage in what some have called a “postal performance” that eventually spread across the nation and around the globe. That web of choreographed communication included creative exchanges with NYCS archivist Wilson and secretary Toby Spiselman, publisher Dick Higgins, and, among others, artists Karl Wirsum and Robert Warner, the latter the recipient of Johnson’s “Bob Boxes,” which entered the Art Institute’s collection in 2020.  

Ray Johnson c/o spans the breadth of the artist’s oeuvre, featuring radically experimental projects such as the open-ended mailer A Book About Death (1963–65) and the nonlinear artist’s book The Paper Snake (1965), the fictitious “Robin Gallery,” which existed only through publicity, and Johnson’s “Nothings”—his most iconoclastic performative endeavors, described by the artist as “an attitude as opposed to a happening.” The highlight of the exhibition is a rare presentation of the artist’s earliest portable cardboard constructions, or “moticos,” displayed both on the wall and in the round in the exhibition’s central gallery. In total, more than 100 of Johnson’s celebrated collages from the 1950s to the 1990s will be on view, offering a historically nuanced lens on how this practice related to his mail art activities as well as his conceptual sculpture and performance. Ray Johnson c/o encompasses the artist’s wide-ranging virtuosity, reflecting his belief that art transcends physical limitations, the restraints of time, or even identifiable goals.

Curator Caitlin Haskell remarked, “With the acquisition of the William S. Wilson Collection of Ray Johnson in 2018-19, the Art Institute immediately became a leading center for the research and exhibition of Johnson’s extraordinary body of work, particularly his radical reconceptions of art in the 1950s and 60s. Ray Johnson c/oopens up the Wilson Archive to the public for the first time since its arrival in Chicago, and suggests a new approach to Johnson as an orchestrator of complex interpersonal collaborations by following the paper trails that particular correspondents amassed and preserved.” Co-Curator Jordan Carter added, “Rather than presenting a singular Ray Johnson, the exhibition acknowledges that the artist, through his exchanges, cultivated multiple personas. So that, in a sense, everyone had their own Ray Johnson. Like the members of the NYCS, visitors to the exhibition will encounter the material, conceptual, and essentially social dimensions of works by a truly interdisciplinary artist who choreographed deeply personal collaborations through the mail—each offering a fragment of Ray and a unique perspective into his fugitive practice.” 

Ray Johnson c/o takes an all-embracing view of the artist’s interdisciplinary bodies of work, featuring an extraordinary group of his most celebrated collages, and reexamining lesser-known projects that have been seen traditionally as peripheral to his studio practice. The exhibition is accompanied by a major scholarly publication designed by Irma Boom and a companion project, c/o Tender Buttons, organized by Jennifer Cohen, assistant research curator in the Director’s Office. 

Image:
Ray Johnson. Untitled (Double Silhouette), 1993. Promised gift of The William S. Wilson Collection of Ray Johnson. © Ray Johnson Estate. 

Sponsors: 
Partial exhibition funding is provided by Kathy and Chuck Harper.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Kati Murphy - kmurphy5@artic.edu - 312.443.3758
Vera Mandilovitch - vmandi@artic.edu - 312.443.3318
Robyn Day - rday2@artic.edu - 312.443.7297
Amy Tsegai - atsegai@artic.edu- 312.443.3363

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America will welcome His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States for an official visit which will begin on October 23, 2021 and continue through November 3, 2021.  The visit, originally scheduled for May 2020, was postponed due to the worldwide pandemic. This is the third official visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States. 

In addition to His All-Holiness, the official delegation will include His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif of Proikonissos, His Eminence Metropolitan Ioustinos of Nea Krini and Kalamaria, Director of the Private Patriarchal Office V. Rev. Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios,  Rev. Deacon-in-Line Kallinikos Chasapis, Director of the First Patriarchal Office Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Delikostantis, businessman Mr. Panagiotis Xenokostas, businessman Mr. Panteleimon (Laki) Vingas, journalist Mr. Hakan Çelik, Mr. Panagiotis Grafiadelis, and Mr. Temistokli Karanikola.

The official visit will begin in Washington, DC and is expected to include meetings, luncheons, and official dinners with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Ambassador of Greece to the United States Alexandra Papadopoulou, and Turkish Ambassador to the United States Hasan Murat Mercan.  Events scheduled in Washington, DC include a Pan-Orthodox Patriarchal Chorostasia at Saint Sophia Cathedral; followed by the inaugural induction of the Senators for Orthodoxy and Hellenism; a Luncheon with the Hierarchs; a Dinner Tribute by the Order of AHEPA; the Blessing of the Permanent Exhibition of Orthodox Christian Cultural Heritage at the Museum of the Bible, and an Ecumenical Reception on Capitol Hill by the National Council of Churches.

On October 27, the official delegation will arrive at Pittsburgh International Airport for an official welcome and then visit Evgenia’s House of Hope in Weirton, WV.  Following will be a Doxology at the Church of All Saints in Weirton and a luncheon hosted by the Psaros family with local clergy and lay leaders.

Later that same day, the visit will continue at South Bend International Airport in South Bend, IN, with an Official Welcome and dinner with Archon Merkourios and Libby Angeliades.

On Thursday, October 28, a welcome Doxology will be held at St. Andrew Church, followed by a meeting with the University of Notre Dame President and a cultural concert in honor of His All-Holiness at Notre Dame.  In the evening, His All-Holiness will receive an honorary degree from the University.

On Friday, October 29, the Official Delegation will travel to New York City, where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will address the Archdiocesan Council, National Philoptochos Board, and the Order of St. Andrew National Council. The Nicholas J. Bouras Award and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Foundation Dinner for Founders will be held in the evening, where an award will be presented to Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The following day, Saturday, October 30, the Official Delegation will meet with clergy and presvyteres of the Archdiocese and students of Holy Cross School of Theology at the Chiotes Family Hall of Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.  In the evening, the Delegation will attend the Patriarch Athenagoras Human Rights Award Banquet honoring Dr. Albert Bourla, Dr. Ugur Sahin & Dr. George Yancopoulos at the Grand Ballroom, New York Hilton Hotel with toast master, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Honorable Alex Azar.

On Sunday, October 31, the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy with Archbishop Elpidophoros and members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese will be celebrated at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, followed by the Investiture of the 2020/2021 Archon Classes of the Order of Saint Andrew by His All-Holiness

Later in the evening, His All-Holiness will be hosted for dinner by the faithful spiritual children and compatriots of Constantinople, Imvros, and Tenedos in the United States.

On Monday, November 1, the American Jewish Committee will present the highest award to His All-Holiness for interreligious relations and advancing Orthodox-Jewish relations.  Following, the Ecumenical Patriarch will offer an Agiasmos and blessing of Archdiocesan Staff in the Chapel of St. Paul, followed by a lunch hosted by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros for Religious Leaders of New York and a dinner at the Antiochian Archdiocese hosted by Metropolitan Joseph in honor of His All-Holiness.

On Tuesday, November 2, His All-Holiness will preside at the Thyranixia (Opening of the Doors Ceremony) at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine. Later, His All-Holiness will receive a presentation from the IJCIC at the New York Hilton.  To end the day, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros will host a dinner to celebrate the 30-year Anniversary of the Enthronement of His All-Holiness at the Loeb Boat House in Central Park.

The Official visit will conclude on Wednesday, November 3 with breakfast and a meeting with the Holy Eparchial Synod at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and a Farewell send-off at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. 

Members of Knights of Columbus, St. Michael Archangel, Police Council #12173 who advanced to 4th Degree on February 22, 2020.