Ray Johnson

Ray Johnson
1927-1995
Drawn While Driving Car, February 21, 1991
1991
Graphite pencil on paper.
8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (21.7 x 14 cm)
Gift of William and Norma Anthony.
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
2015.25

Notes: 

Mail art pioneer Ray Johnson sent artworks through the U.S. postal service to an extensive network of correspondents, often exhorting them to add something to a drawing or collage and then return it. In appreciation of such an exchange with artist Bill Anthony in 1991, Johnson sent him this drawing of a bunny, his signature motif, created, as the inscription tells us, while the artist was driving a car. Adding an additional layer of meaning, Johnson once said of his unpredictable career, "My work is like driving a car. I'm always switching gears."

Inscription: 

Inscribed in pencil on recto: "2.21.91 Drawn while driving car"

Provenance: 
William and Norma Anthony.
Artist page: 
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