Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

How To Draw a Bunny

(2002)

Ray Johnson was a member of that group of beatnik avant-gardists that began as starving artists in the early ‘50s and eventually ended up millionaires like Roy Lichtenstein and Christo, who appear in this film, and Andy Warhol, who doesn’t, being dead. Johnson never achieved the success of his peers. He was primarily a collagist, and his work is interesting, but way too deliberately dense. He also seemed to view his entire life as a piece of performance art, to the point that his death by suicide was viewed by his friends as simply another piece of it. Maybe he thought so himself. Dying was a bad career move for Warhol, who was already filthy rich, but probably a good one for Johnson. Suddenly he has attention. Good for him. Didn’t really care that much for the film, though.