Untitled (John-John and Bobby)

Larry Johnson is an idiosyncratic artist whose signature style consists of graphic photographed collages that demonstrate his consuming passion for celebrity, advertising, and the cultures and subcultures of Southern California. Untitled (John-John and Bobby) is part of a series that Johnson began in 1985; centering on the Kennedy family, it demonstrates his interest not only in individual family members, but also in the era of American society and politics that they typify. This work consists of a fictional account by Johnson, which bears no connection to the Kennedy family other than the names and the reference in the first panel to “Kennedy half-dollars.” The disjointed story fragment includes a pornographic account of the hustler lifestyle and more broadly addresses how the media packages public figures and represents them as entertainment.

About the work

Particulars

Neighbors at Art Institute of Chicago

On the same theme · Language

Not receiving at present

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Untitled (Grief Is Devastating)

Untitled (The Friends You Keep and The Books You Read)

Untitled (Peter Lawford)

The Bedroom, 1889

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–86, border added 1888–89

Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877

Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881

The Basket of Apples, c. 1893

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890–91

American Gothic, 1930

Nighthawks, 1942

Casts (Words) [trial proof 3], 1976

Torso [trial proof], 1976

Torse [trial proof 1], 1976

Casts (Words) [trial proof 4], 1976

Torse [trial proof 2], 1976

Casts (Words) [trial proof 5], 1976

Tourn Mountain, Head Quarters of Washington, Rockland Co., New York, 1851

Evening Snow on a Floss Shaper (Nurioke no bosetsu), from the series "Eight Views of the Parlor (Zashiki hakkei)", c. 1766