Rex Ray
Rex Ray | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Patterson[1] September 11, 1956 near Landstuhl, West Germany |
| Died | February 9, 2015 (aged 58) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | San Francisco Art Institute |
| Known for | graphic design, collage, fine art |
| Website | http://www.rexraystudio.com/ |
Rex Ray (born Michael Patterson; September 11, 1956 – February 9, 2015)[1] was an American graphic designer and collage artist, based in San Francisco.[1]
Early life and education
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Born as Michael Patterson on September 11, 1956, on a United States Army base near Landstuhl, Germany, and he was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[2] He started making art in childhood, and by the 1970s he was part of the mail art movement which was when he adopted the pseudonym "Rey Ray" based on a 1950s toy raygun brand of the same name.[3] He said he changed his name to Rex Ray in order to start anew and be free of his past.[4]
He moved to San Francisco in 1981, to attend San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) where he graduated.[2]
Career
[edit | edit source]Early in his career he worked as a digital graphic designer for nightclubs and for music shows.[2] He designed and performed with The Residents, as well as designed for David Bowie, among others.[5]
By the early 1990s he started a professional fine art practice.[2] Ray had been one of the first artists to use Mac computer-based technology to create his art.[6] He had two units in the Allied Box Factory building in the Mission District in San Francisco, one was his living space and the other was his art studio.[1][7]
Ray referred to his artwork as "paintings" even though they were often collage-based and lacked any traditional painting techniques.[3] His larger works were made by custom printing on colored paper, which was adhered to a canvas with a wet glue; and as the glue got tacky, Ray would cut patterns into the papers, as well as collage with them, and finish the process by sealing the surface with resin.
He died February 9, 2015, after a five year battle with lymphoma and was remembered by SFGate as a "versatile graphic designer who created book covers, tour posters and album art in San Francisco for 35 years."[1]
In museums
[edit | edit source]The collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art includes 37 posters by Rex Ray for musical artists including David Bowie, The B-52s, and The Rolling Stones.[8] His work is also in the collections of the San Jose Museum of Art and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.[1] A drawing of Rex Ray by Veronica De Jesus is in the collection of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.[9]
Publications
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References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c d e f Whiting, Sam (February 10, 2015). Collage artist and designer Rex Ray dies. SFGate. Accessed January 2020.
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Video: 75 Reasons to Live: Rex Ray on Andy Warhol’s Self-Portrait (2010) from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA)
- Video: How to Make a Rex Ray (2010, aired 2018) from Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
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- 1956 births
- 2015 deaths
- 20th-century American male artists
- 20th-century American painters
- 21st-century American male artists
- 21st-century American painters
- American male painters
- American poster artists
- Artists from San Francisco
- Deaths from cancer in California
- Mission District, San Francisco
- People from Colorado Springs, Colorado
- San Francisco Art Institute alumni
- American graphic artists
- American graphic designers
- Deaths from lymphoma in California