It can truly be said that Ray Johnson's work was uniquely his own. Ray was a man genuinely intrigued in his field and I believe sincerely loved the process of making art and allowing the world to see it.
It is not a question whether Ray Johnson's works were pieces of art, they invoked an emotional response from those who looked at then and commanded a sense of purpose and desire. His pieces seemed to blend the line between love and art - this said because Ray johnson truly created art just for the sake of it and for nothing else. Though ray would sit on the phone and haggle for process for hours it was simply because, for him, that was part of the art making process. Every event, person and idea in his life emitted an artiness to it. Whether his life itself was some sort of dark artists performance is up to debate but what i find to be much more interesting is his ability to create for the purpose of creating. From his immense body of work he would send image and collages to random patrons and tell them to in turn mail the work on again. Ray cared not about price or fame but about people seeing his work and taking from it some emotional response and that I feel is truly what art should be about. Unfortunately Ray's life was cut short by the work of his own hands but luckily his story and art will live on into the future to educate people on the real meaning of making something and being creative.
Even though he is gone, I find it so fascinating that people are still adding to and passing his mail art on...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rayjohnsonestate.com/exhibitions/please-add-to-and-return-to-submissions/works/149/ Here is a Ray Johnson inspired piece of mail art that I did. I printed the bunny head from online, I added my abstract art to the left side (the various green Sharpie lines.) I then sent this to my mail art friend Mete Sarabi in Champaign, IL. I had no idea about this project online. I had just thought of it myself. I sent out this piece to him and told him to add something to it and send it on to Ray Johnson (RIP) to his estate's dealer. Mete added "A moustache makes the man" and drew himself and signed it (bottom right) and he must have then mailed it as I asked. Now it is online and will go into the permanent collection of the estate it reads. I think I remember putting my name and address on the back of this piece.
ReplyDeleteThe History of Mail Art:
DeleteThe arrest of mail artist, Dennis James Gergel Jr. in 2012.
In 2012, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art/Florida State University Police had "5 Florida warrants for Use of Personal ID Info by Use of Harassment with a $5000 bond" placed in Sarasota, Florida against mail artist, Dennis James Gergel Jr. because he used some of the names of their employees in his mail art activities. Gergel is a 1997 graduate of the Ringling College of Art, also located in Sarasota, Florida. Some of his art is in the permanent art collection of the Kinsey Institute in Indiana.
Gergel was in jail for about 24 hours. It cost him thousands of dollars in fines and fees, a probation term, community service, he lost his job as a security guard in the Manatee County library that very day because of his arrest and he had to complete and pay for a class about theft. The arresting officer advised Gergel to do a different kind of art from now on as Gergel was handcuffed and being transported to the Port Manatee Jail. His mug shot from this arrest is still online.
A bit of irony is that the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art will often play up the number of pieces in its collection by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp is often credited with sending the first piece of mail art. So how can the same museum that holds Duchamp up so high put in jail another artist who follows his lead regarding mail art?
Dennis James Gergel Jr. is banned from all John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art/Florida State University property for his lifetime and FSU police have instructed him in 2015 that he is not allowed to comment about his experience online or to contact, mail or email Ringling Museum/FSU employees.
When I worked at The Ringling, I knew a young man in his early 20’s that worked in the security department named Justin. He quit after about a year and moved to Colorado. I tried to avoid him as much as possible, because whenever you talked to him he steered all conversations to his fascinations with Adolf Hitler and with sex. He was inspired by Hitler because he was impressed with how one man had changed the lives of millions of people and all of modern history. Justin worked a lot in the Visitor’s Center as you first enter the museum complex. He sat at a desk facing the visitors coming in. He purchased a copy of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) and was determined to read it there while on duty and being paid by the State of Florida (as a employee of The Ringling, he was a state employee technically.) The book was black and on the front cover he put a piece of black colored tape directly over the text of “Mein Kampf”, so visitors to the museum did not see what he was sitting there reading. He took great enjoyment in what he was getting away with. He loved that Florida tax payers had paid for him to read the book of one of his idols.
DeleteJuly 4th 2015, The United States of America, the land of the free?
ReplyDeleteBehave yourself and obey your parents. Go to school. Follow your teacher's instructions. Go to the church of your choice at least once a week. Go to college. Get a good job. Go to work at least 5 days a week. Get married, then have children. Follow fashion and don't stand out. Act normal and be polite. Walk on the pavement and don't step on the cracks. Watch TV. Go to bed early. Obey the law. Pay your taxes. Consume and buy into the latest fads. Save up for your old age.
Now repeat after me: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the
Republic..."
This is freedom?
So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a rubber stamp that quoted JFK and I altered the stamp to read: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do to your country." Now I will stamp this on my mail art. Do little things add up? Does anything make people really think anymore?
We need to begin the finial solution of the Gergel question as soon as possible.
ReplyDelete-Der Ringling
Image is http://www.rayjohnsonestate.com/exhibitions/please-add-to-and-return-to-submissions/works/344/
DeleteText is: Robert (Bob) Reyes is a former employee of the John and Mable Ringling Musuem of Art/Florida State University.
While on duty at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts at the Ringling Musuem, Mr. Reyes often proudly told the story of a dead female body he once found. He was able to determine her name and she was a known prostitute. He transported her remains in his police car and found that some of it had stained his rear carpet. Instead of cleaning it, he left it alone so it would smell very bad. This way no other officer would want to ride in his vehicle. He enjoyed riding alone. He said he got used to the smell and each morning he would get in his police car and say out loud hello to her by name. When his shift was over, he would tell her out loud goodnight by name when he left his car. He said that his commander finally had to order him to clean out his car after hearing so many reports of this strange behavior and complaints of the disgusting smell of Mr. Reye's vehicle.
Sometimes truth is far stranger then fiction could ever be. Like Ray Johnson, Robert (Bob) Reyes is now deceased.
Some of Dennis J. Gergel's artwork is in the collection of The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Their website is jfk.org
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Dennis James Gergel Jr. 1970-2016
ReplyDeleteDouglas Kingsley, security supervisor at The Ringling was rudely nicknamed "the one-armed bandit" by FSU employee Debi Schalch due to his handicap a few years ago. He shares ther trait of misspelling the word Christmas as "Christmass" with The Zodiac Killer who made the same errors in his letters. I guess sick minds truly do think alike? It seems like The Ringling attracts the twisted? Maybe it is the location of The Ringling that acts like a magnet for the unhealthy...as it has been the location of at least one suicide (in The Secret Garden) and at least one male visitor attempted suicide there by slitting his wrists. Regardless, it does not seem to be a safe place to visit.
ReplyDeleteThe Ringling is actually built over the location of Hell itself. On the walkway that leads up to the Ca d'Zan there is design work of the signs of the Zodiac and there is a pentagram. Hell is directly located below that symbol. There used to be a swimming pool located near this spot, but that has long since been filled in. Ask anyone who works or has worked at The Ringling and they will assure you that this place is really Hell on Earth! The Ringling is a major center for Satanic worship on the west coast of Florida.
ReplyDeleteThat pentagram symbol is on what is like a metal circle manhole cover. If you open it, you can climb straight down to hell. It is sort of a stairway to heaven in reverse. The last time I was at The Ringling, there was a new lock on it. I am not sure if that lock is to keep people from going down to Hell or to keep those in Hell from coming back up. Who would have guessed that the Ringling family and the Ringling Circus was so deep into Satan and the Occult? I bet most visitors just walk by these things and pay no notice.
As far as "cruising", the men's restrooms in the Ringling Museum's courtyard has in the last few years become known on Mondays to be where gay and bisexual men congregate in order to meet and have anonymous oral sex.
ReplyDeletereply to (Show the comment)
Yes, Mondays are free admission for Florida residents and that is why the restrooms there have become "cruising" spots on Mondays.
Because the Ringling is
ReplyDeletethe Ringling
so must the streets be filled with
the Ringling.
-Son of Siam
reply to Strawberry_Cockwhore (Show the comment)
ReplyDeleteCum to hell on earth, cum worship and orgy with satan...discover The Ringling!
Welcum friends! Cum and check out our sexy 666 acres on the shores of Sarasota Bay on the west coast of Florida. You can cum and do what thou wilt. Just remember; you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. Discover The Ringling!
We are John and Mable Ringling, ages 150 and 141. We are currently dead and resting horizontally next to each other in the Secret Garden on the 666 acres of grounds at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art located at 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota, Florida 34243.
ReplyDeleteCum to the Secret Garden near the Ca d'Zan and join us for some necrophilia. John's sister is also here resting in the Secret Garden with us if you want to add some family spice into your mix of necromania. Cum and do what thou wilt. Just remember this though: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
Discover More: ringling.org 941.359.5700
Rape of an Estate, a book about the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
ReplyDelete5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, Florida 34243
ringling.org
I don't believe John Ringling would be all that happy with what his museum has become and some of the things it has done which go directly against the will that he left behind. I feel that his first wife, Mable Ringling, would be embarrassed that a circus museum was added to her property and so close to her Rose Garden that she took such great pride in.
Most people don't realize that John Ringling never intended to have The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art connected to his history in the circus business. If you read his will, it is never mentioned that he wanted any circus memorabilia to become part of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. He never would have expected the Florida State University to control his museum either, as he had intended to leave it to the people of the State of Florida. The recent re branding of the museum as "The Ringling" also conflicts with the instructions left by John Ringling in his will. The will states that no one has the right to change the name of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
A man who worked at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art , named Joe McKennon (deceased), self-published an 80 page book called Rape of an Estate in 1986 which recorded issues of abuse and misuse at the museum before Florida State University took control of it in 2000. In the book, the author admits his guilt in helping to turn the museum of art into a circus/art museum as a circus curator and by restoring the many circus wagons on display there. The publication also reprints John Ringling's will. In the will, it is stated that no one has permission to ever change the official name of the museum itself and that it is always to be called The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Rape of an Estate is bound in a simple way with a plain white cover with big blue text. The museum was so threatened by this small book, that they tried to get all the published copies and still today stores them under lock and alarm in their circus museum building. There are stacks of the book in a locked circus archive room that the public is not allowed into. Only the security attendants on the 2nd and 3rd shift during patrols are allowed in that room and also a limited number of circus museum employees. The museum has tried to bury this book away because, as the word "rape" in the title suggests, it shows the museum in a negative way on many issues . This is an example of both censorship by the museum and of the museum trying to control what the public perception is of both its history and its deeds. There are a very few copies of Rape of an Estate around and it can sometimes be found online available for sale on sites like amazon.com.
Famous quotes from the stupid:
ReplyDelete"I hope you understand that you can't hold my two watermelons under your one arm."
Eleonora Kioutchoukova
Thank goodness the creeper is dead!
ReplyDeleteDennis James Gergel Jr.
1970-2018
Do not rest in peace you waste of space! You stuck around too long!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I won! Allegra Sleep
What is so wrong in your own life that you have to play bully and be so mean. Get a hobby and be happy
ReplyDeleteWARNING TO ALL OF MY MAIL ART FRIENDS: New Mexico artist Allegra Sleep has been harassing a Mr. Steven High, the director of the Ringling Museum through the mail art network. She is also altering existing add and passes so that they are sent to the Ringling Museum in Florida. People have no idea they are sending work to the museum, because she only uses Steven High's name and the museum address (e.g. "Return to Steven High, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243"). She was banned from facebook under her real name for harassing an actress online. She created a second facebook account under her alias "Alan Smithee", which facebook also deleted. She uses the alias Alan Smithee in mailart as well as John Ringling, and Ray Johnson. She was arrested for harassing the Ringling Museum, and the U.S. Post Office is investigating her. See image below of back of add and pass that she altered to go to Steven High at the museum's address. Front of add and pass is a very large pornographic image with "Discover the Ringling" both above and below the image, and Sleep's marker "art". Please pass this information on to other mailartists.
ReplyDelete