Photographs into collages

What did Johnson intend to do with the thousands of photographs he made between 1992 and 1994? There are few solid indications. He mailed some to correspondents, either in the form of original prints or as photocopies. He also incorporated a handful of his photographs into collages that differ markedly in scale and sensibility from the larger, contemporaneous Movie Stars. In one collage, a photograph of five Movie Stars—arranged like sequential ads beside a road—is punningly combined with a bunny head bearing the name of abstract painter Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967), a friend and employer of Johnson’s in his early New York years.

Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Untitled (red bunny NOTHING)
1993
Collage on corrugated cardboard
12 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (31.75 × 19.05 cm)
The Morgan Library & Museum,
gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.5:2
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Ray Johnson (1927–1995)
Untitled (Ad Rein Hardt Bunny)
1993
Collage on corrugated cardboard
12 1/2 × 7 5/8 in. (31.75 × 19.37 cm)
The Morgan Library & Museum, gift of the Ray Johnson Estate, courtesy of Frances Beatty; 2022.5:1
© Ray Johnson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York