A widely connected pioneer of Pop and mail art, Ray Johnson was described as 'New York's most famous unknown artist.' Best known for his dense, allusive collages, he stopped exhibiting in 1991, but his output did not diminish. Between 1992 and 1994, using 137 disposable cameras, he created a large body of work that is only now coming to light. Staging his artworks in settings near his home in Locust Valley, Long Island ― parking lots, sidewalks, beaches, cemeteries ― Johnson made photographs that make the world of everyday 'real life' a part of his art. Within a few months, he devised a large new freestanding format for the simplified collages he began calling the 'movie stars' of his camera tableaux. When he swam to his death at sea on 13 January 1995, Johnson left behind a vast archive that included over three thousand of the late photographs. What he called his 'new career as a photographer,' which makes its debut in print here, marked the close of a romance with the camera that had spanned four decades of relentless invention.

雷·约翰逊（Ray Johnson）是波普艺术和邮件艺术的先驱，人脉广泛，被称为“纽约最著名的无名艺术家”。他最出名的作品是那些密集、含蓄的拼贴画，他在1991年停止了展览，但他的作品并没有减少。1992年至1994年期间，他使用137台一次性相机，创作了大量的作品，直到现在才得以曝光。约翰逊在他位于纽约长岛蝗虫谷的家附近摆放他的作品，如停车场、人行道、海滩、墓地，他拍摄的照片让日常“现实生活”的世界成为他艺术的一部分。约翰逊将简化拼贴画称为他镜头造型中的“电影明星”，并为此用了几个月的时间设计了一种新的大型独立格式。1995年1月13日，约翰逊溺水而亡，留下了一个巨大的档案，包括三千多张照片。他所说的“作为摄影师的新事业”首次出现在这本书中，标志着他与相机40年间浪漫关系的结束。