Screening of
How to Draw a Bunny
On the occasion of Los Angeles’s first solo exhibition of work by Ray Johnson, BLUM and Now Instant Image Hall are pleased to present a screening of John Walter and Andrew Moore’s critically acclaimed film, How to Draw a Bunny.
How To Draw A Bunny delves into the ever-eccentric, unquestionably enigmatic world of Ray Johnson. Billed as a “Pop Art mystery movie,” How to Draw a Bunny launches into the investigation of the puzzling circumstances surrounding Johnson’s suicide on Friday, January 13, 1995 that left both his closest admirers as well as the general public baffled, wondering about the role of “performance” in his life and in relation to his death. As the investigating police chief said, “Everyone has a story about Ray Johnson. But no one had the whole story.”
From Detroit to Black Mountain College to the streets of New York, How to Draw a Bunny works at the intervals, collaging together the identity of a unique artist who contributed mightily but often in an oblique manner to the explosion of Pop. Johnson drew together the past and the present, people from all walks of life—dead and alive—and synthesized materials from text, to found objects, to textiles, into collages packed densely with subtle humor, rich pop iconography, and endless allusions to his own wider circle as a never-ending riff on contemporary culture. Commentary from acclaimed artists Christo, James Rosenquist, and Chuck Close as well as literary titan Morton Janklow encapsulates Ray’s multiple personas and his life’s work, which were inextricably intertwined.
Puchase tickets here.
Thursday, May 2
7pm
Now Instant Image Hall, Los Angeles