Ray Johnson's Last Self-Portrait

Ray Johnson's black self-portrait was a contribution to the "Netshakers Stamp Sheet," a grouping of 99 mail artist portraits arranged by Crackerjack Kid for "Netshaker" zine (Volume 3, No. 1). This May 1994 issue doubled as a show catalogue for Artists' Stamps: An International Mail Art Exhibition," hosted by AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH, and curated by Crackerjack Kid. Johnson entered the exhibition in March 1994 and four months later mailed a letter addressed to me at AVA Gallery. On April 27, 1995 two days before I left for Ray Johnson's Memorial at Friends Meeting House in NYC, the AVA Gallery Director informed me I had an unopened letter from Ray Johnson. Holding the letter like a gift dropped from the sky, I carefully opened Ray's envelope and a smile wrinkled my face. This last piece of mail art from Ray Johnson, like his last self-portrait, was a message wrapped with time. Ray left me a last smile, a last pun, his last words post mortem, returned to sender; "AVA Gardner-AVA Gallery."