Ray Johnson Estate Press
KEZIAH WEIR for Vanity Fair
Ray Johnson, the elusive mail-art pioneer whose collages and wordplay created an unorthodox social network, died in 1995, but to me he’s a patron saint of the past lonely year. This catalogue, arriving ahead of a Chicago retrospective, is a sweeping primer on his output—and a creative prompt too.
Paul Laster for Art & Object
Curated by Jarrett Earnest and organized in collaboration with The Ray Johnson Estate, the captivating presentation offers an amusing array of never-before-exhibited artworks from the 1950s through the 1990s.
DANIEL FELSENTHAL for The Village Voice
‘What a Dump’ Delves Into the Irreverent World of Ray Johnson
A new exhibition examines the artist’s mailings and collages — and his persona...
Robert Heide for Westview News
Ray Johnson, Pop-Culture Collagist, Master of ‘The Happening’ and the Mysterious World of Zen Emptiness
Dan Golden for Curator
A conversation with exhibition curator Jarrett Earnest on the occasion of Ray Johnson: WHAT A DUMP, currently on view at David Zwirner in New York.
Lisa Yin Zhang for the Guide
Johnson was an obsessive artist in many ways—how else could he have produced such a prolific archive—but this exhibition hones in on his celebrity obsessions as well as other interests.
Gwynned Vitello & Jarrett Earnest for Juxtapoz Magazine
WHAT A DUMP: A Conversation about Ray Johnson and His Exhibition @ David Zwirner
Wallace Ludell for the Art Newspaper
In this exhibition, the curator Jarrett Earnest aims to somewhat reframe the conversation around Johnson—the pranksterish artist known for his mail art and collages—in order to shine a light on him as a queer figure who was in frequent dialogue with other queer artists of the era.
David Graver for Cool Hunting
DAVID ZWIRNER EXPLORES ARTIST RAY JOHNSON’S QUEER IDENTITY IN “WHAT A DUMP” CURATOR JARRETT EARNEST PRESENTS A NUANCED PORTRAIT OF THE OBSESSIVE MAIL ART PIONEER
Blake Gopnik for the New York Times
“Untitled (Rimbaud),” circa 1971, an example of mail art exchanged between Ray Johnson and his friends.Credit...Ray Johnson Estate
4 Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now: Ray Johnson WHAT A DUMP
Willa Beck for Office
NOTHNG OF THE MONTH CLUB - The last time I visited Off Paradise in Chinatown, right across from the former office office, it was a dreary autumn day. The gallery's current exhibit, NOTHNG OF THE MONTH CLUB (with the “I” purposely left out), very much reflects springtime with its playful tone and humor...
Taylor Dafoe for ArtNet News
Ray Johnson, Untitled (Ray Johnson and Horseshoe Crab) (1992). Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum © The Ray Johnson Estate, New York.
Ray Johnson Spent the Final Years of His Life Developing an Enigmatic Photography Project. It'll Go on View Next Summer...
Arthur Lubow for T Magazine
Ray Johnson's “Untitled (Ray Johnson’s Silhouette and Wood, Stehli Beach)” (Autumn 1992). Image courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum © The Ray Johnson Estate, New York
"An Elusive Artist's Trove of Never-Before-Seen Images" In the years leading up to his death, Ray Johnson took up photography. Now, this body of work is shedding light on his final days...
