Kevin Killian

Ray Johnson (1927–1995) blurred the boundaries of life and art, of authorship and intimacy. Correspondence is the defining character of all of Johnson’s work, particularly his mail art. Intended to be read, to be received, to be corresponded with, his letters (usually both image and textual in character) were folded and delivered to an individual reader, to be opened and read, again and again. Johnson's correspondence includes letter to friends William S. Wilson, Dick Higgins, Richard Lippold, Toby Spiselman, Joseph Cornell, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Robert Motherwell, Eleanor Antin, Germaine Green, Lynda Benglis, Arakawa and Madeline Gins, Christo, Billy Name, Jim Rosenquist and Albert M. Fine, among many others. The subjects of his correspondence ranged from the New York avant-garde (Cage, Johns, de Kooning, Duchamp) to filmmakers such as John Waters, philosophers such as Jacques Derrida and writers such as Gertrude Stein and Marianne Moore. This collection of more than 200 selected letters and writings--most of which are previously unpublished--opens a new view into the sprawling, multiplicitous nature of Johnson’s art, revealing not only how he created relationships, glyphs and puzzles in connecting words, phrases, people and ideas, but also something about the elusive Johnson himself. In a 1995 article in The New York Times, Roberta Smith wrote: "Make room for Ray Johnson, whose place in history has been only vaguely defined. Johnson’s beguiling, challenging art has an exquisite clarity and emotional intensity that makes it much more than simply a remarkable mirror of its time, although it is that, too."

Hustlers gathers a photographic series taken by Los Angeles-based artist Eve Fowler (born 1964) on the streets of the West Village in New York and Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles between 1993 and 1998. Drawing on her background in both journalism and photography, Fowler explores queerness and social "otherness." Here, her untitled, intimate images lay bare the ambiguities of identity, class, sexuality and gender--all of which combine to lend the figure of the hustler a semi-dangerous allure, and the ambiguous attractions of the social outlaw. Stark and unencumbered by typical compositional elements or dramatic lighting, Fowler's subjects demand direct consideration, forcing the viewer to confront in a single face both masculine vulnerability and intrepidity. Accompanying this collection is an essay by Kevin Killian, an award-winning American poet, author and playwright well known for his contributions to LGBT literature.

Published on the occasion of a groundbreaking museum exhibition curated by Lawrence Rinder with Matthew Higgs, Create showcases work made at the three foremost centers for artists with developmental disabilities: Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, Creativity Explored in San Francisco and the National Institute of Art and Disabilities in Richmond. These centers were founded between 1972 and 1982 by Florence Ludins-Katz and Elias Katz, who today are recognized as pioneers of the art and disabilities movement. The husband-and-wife team created studios where disabled artists were integrated into the larger art community of the Bay Area, both influencing and being influenced by other artists. This richly illustrated catalogue offers an overview of the work being made at the centers, including works on paper, paintings and sculpture. Artists include: Mary Belknap, Jeremy Burleson, Attilio Crescenti, Daniel Green, Willie Harris, Carl Hendrickson, James Miles, Marlon Mullen, Bertha Otoya, Lance Rivers, Judith Scott and William Tyler.

Over 40 years ago, Andy Warhol promoted the concept that artists are celebrities, just as worthy of portrayal as other cultural icons. Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists begins where Warhol left off. Presenting visually striking and conceptually diverse works in a range of mediums, Likeness is the first exhibition and catalogue to propose a recent history of artists' representations of other artists--of friends, peers, and idols. While any portrait is both a document and a personal record of the relationship between the artist and his or her subject, blurring distinctions between public and private, portraits of artists further enrich the situation; they commemorate and concretize the intimate social dramas of the art world and the economies of exchange. Selected here are over 50 paintings, drawings, photographs, and works in other media, created by a loose network of artists primarily active in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin during the past three decades. Included are works by David Armstrong, AA Bronson, Bruce La Bruce, Chuck Close, Tacita Dean, Sam Durant, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Richard Hamilton, Mike Kelley, Sean Landers, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Misrach, Dave Muller, Paul Noble, Julian Opie, Elizabeth Peyton, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Wolfgang Tillmans, James Welling, and others.