BibliozinePartVI

Bibliozine, Part VI

Netmail, Angela and Peter. Network Discussions: Reports on the DNC 92. Blacky's Image Lounge, Jakarta, Indonesia. 1993. 51 pages.

Byron Black has taken the Congress Reports found in Angela and Peter's Free Personal Netmail Delivery (see Bibliozine # 19 [December 1993]), and compiled them in this compact book . They give a good overview of the various discussions the couple had with networkers during their year-long journey, which took them to Europe, Asia, Asia, Australia, and North America. The Congresses are all on different aspects of the network experience including gender issues, archives, exhibitions, computers, artistamps, pseudonyms, zines, politics, working with institutions, and developing countries. Write Peter and Angela (PO Box 2644, 32383 Minden, Germany) for ordering information.

Perkins, Stephen, and Dunn, Lloyd, guest editors. "Copy Culture." New Observations. May/June 1994, #101. 31 pages. $5. (Distributed by Printed Matter, 77 Wooster Street, NY, NY 10012)

This is the long awaited result of a project by Perkins and Dunn exploring the photocopy medium, the notice of which was widely disseminated in the network. As such it has contributions by Piermario Ciani (who provides the cover illustration) and Vittore Baroni of Italy, France's Jean-François Robic, and red-blooded American Al Ackerman. To their credit, the editors reached outside the mail art network to include others like Frank Moore and Laurence Roberts a.k.a. Larry-Bob, who provide perspectives from other sectors of the copy shop. Larry Bob's introduction to the Queer Zine scene, and Mark Frauenfelder's, "Cheap Memes: Zines, Metazines, and Virtual Press," are informed commentaries on DIY publishing. Editor Dunn presents an interesting report of the 1989 Festival of Plagiarism held in Glasgow, Scotland. Reed Altemus provides a bibliography that includes resources on technological and artistic aspects of the medium. An important publishing event for establishing photocopy as an important contemporary art medium. This is a widely distributed magazine, and brings the medium and it's underground proponents to a a large establishment audience.

Supek, Jaroslav. "Mail Art: Projekt Profilu." Profil. No. 3/4, 1994. $15? (Address: Profil, Partizáska 21, 813 51 Bratslava, Slovakia).

Yugoslavian mail artist Jaroslav Supek organized a special Mail Art/Network section of this venerable Slovakian art journal. Essays by Guy Bleus (Belgium), Geza Perneczky (Germany), Nicola Frangione (Italy), Gyorgy Galantai (Hungary), Paulo Bruscky (Brazil), Serge Segay (Russia), Ruud Janssen (Holland), Andrej Tisma(Yugoslavia), Svjetlana Mimica (Croatia), Mark Pawson (England), Clemente Padin (Uruguay), and Günther Ruch give an overview of the network, it's different mediums (publications, fax, computers), influences (Ray Johnson, Fluxus) and concerns (the Yugoslavia situation, political repression, cross cultural cooperation). A good indication that mail art and networking continue to exert a continuing influence on the contemporary international art scene. Kudos to Supek for organizing this impressive lineup under personal pressure as an artist under embargo.

Watch for a publication compiling Bibliozines #1-25.

Bibliozine #26 (November 1994)
John Held Jr., Editor
Modern Realism Archive

Bibliozine is an irregular periodical published in connection with research on international networker culture. If you have materials that may be of interest to the project, please send them to the above address. Especially looking for books and articles on networking and it's various aspects: zines, mail art, telecommunication, computer bulletin boards, fax, cassette culture, photocopy, collaborative performance, artist collectives, artistamps, rubber stamp art, fluxus, and other aspects of post-war avant-garde cultures.

From October 15 through November 1, 1994, the editor was in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Lectures were given on the alternative arts (mail art, networking, performance, and Fluxus) at the National Academies of Fine Arts in Prague and Budapest. In Yugoslavia a performance and exhibition took place at the Happy New Art Gallery in Belgrade. Following are a list of books, catalogs, and periodicals accumulated during the visit, reflecting the people met along the way.

Artpool Art Research Center. George Maciunas: Irások, Diagramok. Budapest, Hungary. 1993. 24 pages. (Artpool, Pf. 52, 1277 Budapest 23, Hungary).

Catalog of the exhibition at Artpool Art Research Center in 1993. Contains essays of the major organizer of Fluxus, an interview with Maciunas by Larry Miller, and is illustrated by many of the well-known diagrams Maciunas composed showing the roots of the movement. This pamphlet is one is a series that Artpool has done over the past several years. Others include Fluxus 1992 (by Ken Friedman), Ben, and Network Utópiák (fax, internet, and television art).

Artpool Art Research Center. Polyphonix 26. Budapest, Hungary. October 2-6, 1994. 14 pages.

Program notes for the recent International Sound Poetry Festival organized by Artpool, which included the participation of important network contributors such as Gyorgy Galantai (director of Artpool), Julien Blaine (editor of the French periodical D[O]CKS), Piotr Rypson (early Polish mail artist), Timm Ulrichs (an important German rubber stamp exponent), and Rea Nikonova/Serge Segay(crucial Russian network collaborators).

Golden Eye Center for Visual Culture. Zlatno Oko. Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Number 1. September 1994. (Golden Eye, Trj Mladenaca 10/1, 21000 Novi Sad, Yugoslavia).

New magazine reflecting the interests of this year-old art space in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. The 136 page periodical includes the article, "Art, Embargo-Embargo-Art," by Zivan Zivkovic, which describes the activities of Yugoslavian artist Aleksandar Jovanovic. Stampsheets of the artist are reproduced which picture his performance works in reaction to the cultural embargo placed upon Yugoslavia by the United Nations. Jovanovic also edits the magazine Cage, which chronicles the different actions within and outside Yugoslavia in reaction to the embargo.

Hajdu, Istváv, ed. "Milan Knizak: A Poszt-Szocialista Postzt-Realizmus. Balkon. April, 1994. Budapest, Hungary. Page 12-15. (Balkon, Bartók Béla út 82, 1113 Budapest, Hungary)

Knizak's recent painterly and sculptural works are discussed in this leading Hungarian art magazine. Other recent issues have featured articles on such subjects and personalities of interest to networkers as Endre Tot (May 1994), and mail art historian Géza Perneczky on Pop Art (February 1994).

Knízák, Milan. Some Documentary: 1961-1979. Edition Ars Viva! Berlin, Germany. 1980. 275 pages.

What an anomaly! The Czech Republic's foremost dissident artist becomes the President of the National Academy of Fine Art upon the nation's new situation of freedom. Fluxus collaborator and life artist of the first rank, this book, published on the occasion of the artist's DAAD residency in Berlin, is an overview of Knízák's early activities. He contributes an essay, and there is also a perceptive account, "About M. K.," by the late Jindrich Chalupecky. Manifestoes of the Aktual art movement, which he headed, and other writings are also reproduced. Profusely illustrated. "My actions themselves, though they have never been limited to galleries or other closed spaces or to a select audience (the streets were the stage and the great majority of the participants were involved by chance or were recruited from circles very different from those of gallery and concertgoers) - these actions did not succeed by themselves in fulfilling people's desire to experience communication, fife, existence as a totality, and that is why I have attempted to create, out of myself, out of my life, my way of expressing myself and of influencing my surroundings, a life style whose fragments have since to be be seen as an oeuvre of a sort which exists in the interstices between music, fashion, architecture, etc."

Muzej Savremene Umetnosti (Museum of Contemporary Art). YU Mail Art. Beograd, Yugoslavia. 1994. 16 pages. (YU ISBN 86-7101-112-7)

Catalog for the recent exhibition featuring Yugoslavian mail artists Nenad Bogdanovic, Dobrica Kamperelic, Jaroslav Supek, Andrej Tisma, and Miroljub Todorovic. Essays (in Serbio-Croatian) are contributed by Jaroslav Supek and exhibition curator Jasna Tijardovic Popovic. Reproductions of each artists works illustrate the catalog, and highly informative biographies are included on each artist.

Tisma, Andrej, ed. Ljubav/Love. Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Number 1. January 1992. (Ljubav, 21000 Novi Sad, Modene 1/IV, Yugoslavia)

In the midst of civil war rises a call for a higher spirituality in this zine devoted to "record and to study all positive world trends which include feeling, demonstrating and spreading of LOVE.". The editor writes that, "The war situation that is at the moment in Yugoslavia is a good opportunity to send positive waves and support positive forces that are existing here, but have a really hard time in their struggle with negative forces that are suddenly released after 50 years of totalitarism and artificial balance between Yugoslavian nations, republics and their economies."

Bibliozine #27 (December 1994)
John Held Jr., Editor
Modern Realism Archive

Bibliozine is an irregular review periodical published in connection with the editors' research on international networker culture. If you have materials that may be of interest to the project, please send them to the above address. Especially looking for books and articles on networking and it's various aspects: zines, mail art, telecommunication, computer bulletin boards, fax, cassette culture, photocopy, performance, artist collectives, artistamps, rubber stamp art, fluxus, and other aspects of collaborative avant-garde cultures.

Modern Realism gallery is currently showing, "Tensetendoned," the assembling publication of Preston Park, PA, artist M. B. Corbett, whose work "Condom Man," was recently censored at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art during the run of the mail art show in connection with the exhibition, "In the Spirit of Fluxus." The Modern Realism exhibit runs through December 15th, followed by the visual poetry of Davi Det Hompson, which runs through the end of the month.

Black, Bob. Beneath the Underground. Feral House (PO Box 3466, Portland, OR 97208). 1994. 190 pages. $10.95. (ISBN 0-922915-21-0)

Any book with an afterword by Al Ackerman can't be all bad, and this isn't. A collection of essays with such varied and interesting subjects as zines, the situationists, the Church of the SubGenius, Stewart Home's Assault on Culture, Factsheet Five, and mail art, has alot going for it right off the bat. I, for one, am going to find it of interest no matter what. But the author has always been cantankerous, and there's no let up here. In fact, the collection is more a chance to get even, than an overview of this important current running beneath the mainstream and alternative press. The author is on top of his material, there's no doubt about that, but it's a bitter and ultimately cynical view, which does more to turn the reader off then encourage him to dig deeper.

Bleus, Guy. Een Algemene Discours Over Mail Art. Het Postmuseum van Brussel. Brussel, Belgium, 1994. 120 pages. (ISBN 90-74203--3-5) (write PO Box 43, 3830 Wellen, Belgium, for ordering information and price)

Published in Dutch with a forward by the Conservator of the Postal Museum in Belgium, longtime mail art theoretician Guy Bleus' recent release succinctly outlines the major components of mail art. The first chapter gives a history of the artform stressing the importance of Ray Johnson, Fluxus, earlier avant-garde movements like Dada and Futurism, Nouveau Realism, Gutai, visual poetry, and concept art. The second chapter focuses on the meaning and semantics of the word "mail art." The author then focuses on the various aspects of the medium giving a description of each: networking, postcards, artistamps, rubber stamps, copy art, artists' books, small press publications, audio art, archives, exhibitions, tourism and congress, neoism and Art Strike, fax and e-mail art. A philosophical discourse and bibliography are followed by Bleus' previously printed essay, "Indirect Correspondence. The Dutch is daunting, but proper names and art terms appear in English making the work accessible to those without a working knowledge of the language. An impressive gem.

Gins, Madeline. Helen Keller or Arakawa. Burning Books, Santa Fe, New Mexico (distributed by Distributed Art Publishers, NYC). 1994. 320 pages. $29.50. (ISBN 0-936050-11-X)

Before I was aware of mail art and still an English major in college, I was a fan of Madeline Gins. Her first book Word Rain (Grossmen, 1969), seemed to me the ultimate published object. In many ways it still is. It's rare, but try to find it and see for yourself. When ultimately I did discover mail art and became a friend of Ray Johnson, who knew everyone in the New York artworld, including Madeline Gins, I asked him if he would give me an introduction to this mysterious creature. I went to her loft, which she shared with her painter husband Arakawa, on our first meeting. I had tea with her at a Soho coffeehouse during our second visit. And on our third meeting, I heard her recite poetry at a reading I arranged. Dick Higgins and Jackson MacLow were also on the bill. So what does this have to do with the tome under consideration? Perhaps nothing, and then again, who knows? Madeline Gins has never been easy to decipher, and I don't pretend to understand Helen Keller or Arakawa, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it. Madeline is someone you work towards an understanding of. If you think you have her figured out, you are either a pompous ass or most assuredly wrong. Madeline Gins is a genuinely advanced person, who once told me that her goal is to live forever. Coming from nearly anyone else, this would sound, well, pompous or wrong. But from Madeline it sounds matter of fact and plausible. Anything is possible in the world of Madeline Gins. Even a comparison of Helen Keller with Arakawa.

Hoffberg, Judith A., editor. "Synchronicity & Old Places: On the Road with JAH." Umbrella (Pasadena, CA), Vol. 17, No. 3/4, December 1994. (ISSN 0160-0699). (Available from PO Box 40100, Pasadena, CA 91114) ($18 annual subscription)

An account of the editors' journey to England, France, and Holland in pursuit of ever more information on the artist book field. A keynote speaker at the International Conference of Designer Bookbinders at Oxford, Hoffberg uses the occasion to meet old friends and make new acquaintances active in the medium, for which she has so long been a leading light. This travelogue continues a tradition of travel diaries in Umbrella, and they are always insightful excursions into the heart of the world of the book artist. No one knows the field better, or is so willing to share her discoveries.

Lamarre, Claire. "Art Postale: Rencontre Internationale d'Art Postal dans la Région de Québec." Inter (Québec, Canada), Number 60, Autumn 1994. Page 82-85. $7.95 (Canadian). (ISSN 0825-8708). (Available from Le Lieu, Centre en Art Actuel, 345 rue du Post, Québec G1K 6M4, Canada)

Inter is an outstanding long-running record of international activity in the mediums of audio art, sound poetry, performance and associated fields. The current issue carries a report of the First Mail Art Congress of Québec, organized by Jean-Claude Gagnon, and featuring an international array of mail artists including Monty Cantsin Istvan Cantor (Canada), Carlo Pittore (USA), Anna Banana (Canada), John Held, Jr. (USA) Emilio Morandi (Italy), Giovanni Strada (Italy), Marcel Stussi (Switzerland), François Robic (France), Reid Wood/State of Being (USA), Rafaël Courtoisie (Uruguay), as well as the author, Françoise Latulippe, and Malcolm Reid from Québec. Performance photos accompany the text. In French.

Bibliozine #28 (February 1995)
John Held Jr., Editor
Modern Realism Archive

Bibliozine is an irregular review periodical published in connection with the editors' research on international networker culture. If you have materials that may be of interest to the project, please send them to the above address. Especially looking for books and articles on networking and it's various aspects: zines, mail art, telecommunication, computer bulletin boards, fax, cassette culture, photocopy, performance, artist collectives, artistamps, rubber stamp art, fluxus, and other aspects of collaborative avant-garde cultures.

Modern Realism Gallery is currently showing Davi Det Hompson's "Couplets," a series of burnt paper visual poems. The exhibition runs until February 15th. The following show of "Artist Postage Stamps," consists of work sent in for the forthcoming "Faux Post" exhibiton set to open at the Bush Barn Art Center in Salem, Oregon, next June.

Banco de Idea Z

The editor of Bibliozine was in Havana, Cuba, in January to install a mail art exhibition at the Museo Nacional Palacio de Bellas Artes, lecture on mail art, and conduct a workshop. The exhibit was co-sponsored by the Cuban art collective Banco de Idea Z, composed of members Ludovico, Abelardo Mena, Jorge Alejandro Camacho, Rodolfo Arrondel Lopez, Sandra Rodriquez Rivalta, Carmen Cintra Romeu, Juan Carlos Herrera Verano, and Jacqueline Mir Gomez. Banco de Idea Z is an independent, non-commercial, project to promote young emerging Cuban participants in the visual arts, literature, theater, and socio-cultural events, both in Cuba and abroad. These people deserve your support. In the sixteen months of their existence they have published over one-hundred and twenty books, artist brochures, envelopes, postcards, calendars, artists' books, and critical texts. Listed below is a sample of these publications, which can be purchased directly from the collective. It is now legal for Cuban nationals to possess American dollars. The mail to Cuba is slow, but eventually arrives. Send them what you can (I recommend twenty dollars [in cash]) for sample publications, or request particular works listed below. Their address is: Banco de Idea Z, 19 St. No. 1362 Apt. 15 e/ 24 & 26. ,Vedado Havana 4 . CP 10400 Cuba. (Tel. 537-37327; E-Mail: ideasz@tinored.cu) Support international cultural workers.

Afás, Juana García. Circunloguio. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1993. 16 pages.

Haiku-like poetry by the author is accompanied by the illustrations of José Luis Farinas. The production is typical of the Banco de Idea Z: recycled paper, simply constructed (this one with a binding of string), and strong design.

Banco de Idea Z. Libro Arte Promocional, Volumen 1. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1994. 50 pages.

The work of twenty-four visual artists are reproduced. The work ranges from cartoons to surrealism. The mediums include drawings , engravings, and woodblock prints. This is a very handsome volume printed in an edition of 250 copies numbered by hand. It includes short artist biographies, listing date and place of birth, education, and exhibitions.

Banco de Ida Z. Libro Arte Promocional, Volumen 2. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1995. 50 pages.

Published in January, and hot of the press. This is the best source for work by young contemporary Cuban national artists you'll find anywhere. Twenty artists are represented by two works each. Wide range of styles and mediums as in Volume One. Printed in an edition of 250 copies, each numbered by hand. The work is printed on recycled paper. Contains artist biographies.

Banco de Idea Z. Calendario 1995. Havana, Cuba. 1995. 7 pages.

Legal size calendar with two months on each page. Six artists have contributed to the work. Start your day the Cuban way.

Ludovico. Ludovico. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1993. 12 pages.

Self described shaman, and guiding force behind the artist collective, Ludovico numbers among his correspondents the renowned Mexican alternative artist Felipe Ehrenberg. This is a nice introduction to Ludovico's graphic work, and contains an introduction by Abelardo Mena, Curator of Foreign Art at the National Museum. A detailed biography is also included. Recommended.

de La Rosa, Sandro. Sandro de la Rosa. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1993. 8 pages.

Handsome brochure featuring the artists' woodblock prints. The artist was born in 1972 and graduated from the Academia de Artes Plasticas San Alejandro. In 1993 he was included in a group show at the Museo Nacional Palacio de Bellas Artes. The works feature a number of leprechauns playing music, smoking, and riding fantastic creatures. Nice example of the type of
brochure printed for visual artists.

de Mela, Angela. Donde Nombrar a Mela. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1993.

Poem by the author and illustrated by Perla, this is one of the outstanding artists' books published by the collective. It is a hand-colored printed shaped book, bound with ribbon, and attached seashells and feathers. A very beautiful and poetic work published in an edition of 250 copies.

Valdés, Adrian. A la Memoria de Vincent Van Gogh. Banco de Idea Z, Havana, Cuba. 1994. 8 pages.

There is a strong tradition of Surrealism in Modern Cuban Art , which is typified by the classic work of Wilfredo Lem. This spirit is manifested then in the work of Adrian Valdés, who portrays the tragic painter Van Gogh in a number of situations, including roaring down the highway in a convertible with Betty Boop. Produced in an edition of 150 copies.

Bibliozine #29 (March 1995)
John Held Jr., Editor
Modern Realism Archive

Bibliozine is an irregular review periodical published in connection with the editors' research on international networker culture. If you have materials that may be of interest to the project, please send them to the above address. Especially looking for books and articles on networking and it's various aspects: zines, mail art, telecommunication, computer bulletin boards, fax, cassette culture, photocopy, performance, artist collectives, artistamps, rubber stamp art, fluxus, and other aspects of collaborative avant-garde cultures.

Modern Realism gallery is currently showing the more than 200 contributions from 30 countries in response to the Faux Post exhibition invitation. A curated version of this show will open in June 1995 at the Bush Barn Art Center, Salem, Oregon, that will then travel the United States for two years under the auspices of Visual Art Resources, a Portland, Oregon, based travel exhibition service.

Chuck Welch, Editor. Eternal Network: A Mail Art Anthology. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Canada. 1995. 304 pages. (ISBN 1-895176-27-1) $39.95 ($3.50 postage/handling). Order from Chuck Welch, PO Box 978, Hanover, NH 03755.

In the absence of critical acceptance by mainstream critics and art historians, Mail Artists have taken it upon themselves to reveal the mysteries of the medium. This began with Mike Crane and Mary Stofflet's Correspondence Art (1984), Welch's previous work, Networking Currents (1986), and my own Mail Art: An Annotated Bibliography (1991). Throughout the history of Mail Art, practitioners have insisted that to know Mail Art is to do Mail Art, so this may not be a totally unexpected development.

Echoing the diversity of Mail Art, Welch has wisely decided to give voice to a number of contributing essayists, most of whom are active networkers. The 46 writers from 16 countries on 5 continents expound on such topics as Mail Art history in their respective countries to an overview of networking aesthetics. Pioneering Mail Artists like Ken Friedman, and Richard Kostelanetz, Robert Filliou, and Dick Higgins, join such active contemporary Networkers as Anna Banana, Guy Bleus, and Shozo Shimamoto in giving a wide reaching overview of the medium. It's all here in its' many facets: from the contribution of Ray Johnson to the extension of Mail Art into computer technologies, the evolution of the medium is charted in a variety of strong and knowledgeable voices.

The book is dedicated to Jean Brown, an ardent supporter of Fluxus and Mail Art, who died in 1994. Jean was able to intuit the importance of Mail Art at a time when others in her position shrugged it off as a poor stepchild of former movements. Her knowledge of Dada and Surrealism, the Lettriste movement, Nouveau Realism, Situationism, visual poetry, and artist's books lead her to the conclusion that Mail Art was an important continuation of these former movements in art's everflowing currents.

Calgary University Press is to be congratulated for producing a work that can at once be used as an introductory textbook to currents in Mail Art networking, as well as a readable text for a worldwide audience involved with the medium. For the newcomer to Mail Art, the book presents a penetrating view of the artform, and an entrance to become actively engaged. The veteran practitioner will be pleased to see often fugitive works compiled and preserved for future study.

Peppered throughout are reproductions of performance photographs, rubber stamps, artist postage stamps, computer works, publications, exhibition invitations, posters, postcards, and flyers. These look especially nice in the 8 1/2" x 11 format, which has been designed in part by Italian mail artist Piermario Cianni.

Especially helpful are the appendixes which Welch has compiled. There are biographical notes on the contributing essayists; a listing of important Mail Art shows from 1970-1994; Mail Art archives and collections; a listing of Mail Art magazines; and a database of materials concerning the 1992 Worldwide Decentralized Networker Congresses.

The book appears at a crucial time. On January 13, 1995, Ray Johnson, the Father of Mail Art, died under mysterious circumstances (see Bibliozine #30). Two weeks later, on February 4, the editor of Eternal Network held a book launch at Printed Matter bookstore in New York City. Coming so soon after the death of its most influential figure, the two events seemed linked in a situation typical of the correspondances (sic) running rife in Mail Art. The work is an homage to the perseverance of Johnson, who labored intensively over a forty year period in the creation of an artistic world wide web. Johnson, more than any other figure in the medium, came to represent the graciousness of giving and poetic possibilities that characterize the network.

Bibliozine #30 (March 1995)
John Held Jr., Editor
Modern Realism Archive

Bibliozine is an irregular review periodical published in connection with the editors' research on international networker culture. If you have materials that may be of interest to the project, please send them to the above address. Especially looking for books and articles on networking and it's various aspects: zines, mail art, telecommunication, computer bulletin boards, fax, cassette culture, photocopy, performance, artist collectives, artistamps, rubber stamp art, fluxus, and other aspects of collaborative avant-garde cultures.

Bunny Dead:

On January 13, 1995, at 7:30 pm, two teenage girls saw a man fall or jump off the North Haven Bridge in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York. According to their account, he had on dark clothing and appeared to be doing the backstroke. The girls tried to alert the authorities, but found the police station closed. An adult they contacted seemed unconcerned. The next morning a body was spotted 50 feet offshore, the police finally alerted, and the deceased was identified as Ray Johnson, pioneering Pop Artist and the Father of Mail Art. Police found an address book in the room he had taken at the Baron's Cove Inn, and began alerting the people listed therein. Word spread quickly of his death, and already a fax exhibition has been held in his honor in Belgium and a conference on his life in Florence, Italy. An artist's artist, Johnson never gained the widespread recognition he deserved. Those who knew his work, however, are unstinting in their praise and recognition of his profound influence.

For the record, here are some of the earliest accounts of his death.

Boyhan, Bryan. "Ray Johnson's Last Event. Sag-Harbor Express. January 19, 1995. Page 1-2,5.

Interviews with artist Chuck Close, Helen Harrison, director of the Pollock-Krasner House in East Hampton, and critic David Bourdon, are included. "As difficult as he could be, the artist was also deeply concerned about the image he portrayed, and the portrait that emerges is of a man who, although counting hundreds as his friends, was also very private and in recent years somewhat reclusive."

Karppi, Dagmar Fors. Mystery Death for Pop Artist." Oyster Bay Enterprise-Pilot. January 26, 1995. Page, 3, 22, 29.

"In Ray's world everything relates to everything else, becoming part of an elaborate, ever-expanding mental fabrication of mutually interlocking references. It is an absurd, humorous, mysterious and essentially private universe..."

Hurt III, Harry. "A Performance-Art Death." New York Magazine. March 6, 1995 (Vol. 28, No. 10). Page 24-25.

                                                                                                  Continue to Part VII