In his writing and visual art, Johnson used juxtapositions and puns to suggest that nothing stands alone: everything finds correspondence in something else. Photography’s optical literalness gave him new ways to explore reality’s doubleness. Twins—and photocopied photographs—are nearly alike yet insistently distinct. Mirrors give back a faithful, yet laterally reversed, image of nature. The shadow of a thing echoes its original, but (like a moticos) it is flat and empty of internal detail.
Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Twins
22 November 1994
Commercially processed chromogenic print
4 × 6
The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.2:103
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
RJ reflected in ice truck and split Duane Michals Movie Star
11 May 1993
Commercially processed chromogenic print
4 × 6
The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.2:140
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Max Ernst bunny, chair, and mirror
7 October 1994
Commercially processed chromogenic print
4 × 6
The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.2:99
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Back steps and moticos
spring 1992
Commercially processed chromogenic print
4 × 6
The Morgan Library & Museum. Gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.2:32
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York