Catalogues and Ephemera
MoMA PS1
A preeminent artist residency program dedicated to displaying the most experimental art in the world, MoMA PS1 opened in 1976 at its permanent location in Long Island City, Queens. MoMA PS1 actively pursues emerging artists, new genres, and adventurous new work in effort to support innovation in contemporary art.
Working there from 1979 to 1982, Johnson helped solidify PS1's reputation as a venue for catalyzing and advocating new ideas, discourses and conversations in contemporary art. As Johnson's studio exemplifies, MoMA PS1 artists have an enduring tradition of transforming the building's spaces into site-specific art.
An inside look at Johnson's MoMA PS1 Studio on YouTube
Photographs of the artist's studio in The Archive
Phyllis Kind Gallery | New York and Chicago
Opening her gallery in Chicago in 1967, Phyllis Kind exhibited artists who were making work that stood apart from such mainstream forms as minimalism, color-field, and pop art. By 1970, Kind had established a stable of artists who later became known as the Chicago Imagists.
Kind opened a second location in New York in 1975, showing artists who defied prevailing attitudes and who were considered contemporary "outsiders." Kind's gallery was the first to promote outsider work within New York's context of high or "serious" art. Both unique and transformational, with well-crafted and personal elements, Johnson's work resonated with Kind's philosophy and mission. A mainstay in Kind's stable of artists, Johnson had numerous solo exhibitions and soon attracted the attention of Dorothy and Herb Vogel.
Watch footage from one of Johnson's solo exhibitions on YouTube
Explore Johnson's Phyllis Kind installations in The Archive
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
The Vogels started collecting art in the early 1960s, focusing on modern, conceptual works. Their collection grew to nearly 5,000 pieces made by a gamut of artists, from Roy Lichtenstein to Cindy Sherman, Martin Johnson to Sol LeWitt.
Embracing Johnson's idiosyncratic style and inventive punning, the Vogels collected upwards of 50 of his works, including painting, sculpture, and works on paper. In concert with the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, D.C. in 2008, the Vogels devised a plan wherein 50 museums across the United States—one in each state—would receive 50 carefully selected works representing a distillation of the Vogel collection.
The Vogel bequest coincided with an ongoing touring exhibition, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States.
View Johnson's Vogel Collection work in The Archive
Watch highlights from the film on YouTube
