ART

That Was the Answer: Interviews with Ray Johnson

Soberscove Press 2018 ISBN 9781940190204 Acqn 28938
Pb 18x23cm 200pp 14ills £17

Ray Johnson (1927-1995) was a singular artist, for whom life and work were inextricably linked.
Born in Detroit, Johnson attended Black Mountain College before moving to New York, where his
work anticipated Pop art and he was active in early Fluxus circles. Best known for his collages
and Mail art activities, including his New York Correspondence School, he operated fluidly in a
wide range of modes. For Johnson, everything and everyone were potential material for his art-
any form could become a space for artistic activity-and the form of the interview proved no
exception.

That Was the Answer: Interviews with Ray Johnson brings together a selection of eleven
interviews and conversations from 1963 to 1987 that offer unique access to Johnson's distinctive
thinking and working methods. These materials, which include exhibition ephemera, an oral
history, radio transcripts, and magazine articles, are marked throughout by his humor and close
attention to language. Gathering these exchanges for the first time, That Was the Answer serves
as an exceptional introduction to Ray Johnson as well as a resource for those who are interested
in gaining deeper insight into the artist and his kaleidoscopic body of work.

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