Ray Johnson was once known as “New York’s most famous unknown artist” – a complex character who created multi-layered collage work full of in-jokes, puns and obscure references, and whose death was just another enigma in an unpredictable career. In 1995, aged 67, Johnson was seen to dive off a bridge on Long Island and backstroke out to sea. His body washed up on the beach the following day. Johnson disappeared on 13 January, had checked into room 13 of a hotel that morning, and the digits of his age added up to 13, and these coincidences added to the fact that he had carefully arranged a selection of collages at his home before he left led many observers to view his apparent suicide as a final performance.

An exhibition of previously unseen Ray Johnson work is currently on display at Karma in New York, the city where he created and performed the majority of his most important work before the shooting of his friend Andy Warhol, his own knifepoint mugging and Bobby Kennedy’s assassination drove him to a more reclusive life. The acutely-curated and cleverly-presented show that documents his playful style and razor-sharp aesthetic, presented in association with Ray Johnson Estate, Richard L. Feigen & Co., and Jay Gorney, runs until 1 November.