Were the Movie Stars made to be photographed? Or are the photographs mere documents of the Movie Stars? Perhaps the two bodies of work are best understood as complementary parts of a continuous creative cycle. Many of the Movie Stars are made on cardboard that bears photographic product information, suggesting that it was scavenged from the dumpster of the shop where Johnson bought his cameras and turned them in for developing.
Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Headshots through windshield, RJ and camera in rearview mirror
June 1993
Commercially processed chromogenic print
4 × 6
The Morgan Library & Museum, gifts of the Ray Johnson Estate,
courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.2:145
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York