The Ray Johnson Archive

Please Return To: Mail Art from The Ray Johnson Archive is an exhibition of never-before-exhibited mail art from Johnson's personal archive. Come enjoy a drink and a hot dog - the gallery will have a hot dog cart in homage to Ray Johnson's infamous "hot dog drop" performance at the 7th Annual New York Avant-Garde Festival in 1969.

Please Return To will display original examples of mail art that were worked on, circulated and returned to Ray Johnson, among them responses to Johnson’s “Please Add Hair to Cher,” “The Starn Twins” and “Phillip Guston’s Bath Tub” templates, as well as a selection of collages that relate to mail art practice.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with “Please Add to and Return to,” a mail art activation presented by Performa in collaboration with the Ray Johnson Estate. Performa is putting several of Johnson's mail art “templates” back into circulation by placing them as ads in monthly art publications.