| How to Draw a Bunny | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John W. Walter |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography |
|
| Edited by | John W. Walter |
| Music by | Max Roach |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4,148[1] |
How to Draw a Bunny: A Ray Johnson Portrait, is a 2002 American documentary film about the Detroit-bornpop,collage andperformance artistRay Johnson.[2]
Filmmakers John Walter andAndrew L. Moore delve into the mysterious life and death of Johnson, an artist whose “world was made up of amazing coincidences, serendipities and karmic gags,” according to Michael Kimmelman ofThe New York Times.[3] After Johnson's suicide, Moore and Walter conducted interviews with artists includingChristo,Chuck Close,Roy Lichtenstein,Judith Malina, andJames Rosenquist. In addition, they gathered photographs, works of art, and home movies, which were edited into a fast-paced narrative exploring the artist's life.[4][5][6]
The filmmakers “couldn’t have chosen a more elusive subject for a movie; their success in evoking Johnson, and in documenting his world, is a triumph of sympathy over psychology, memory over historicism,” wrote Stuart Klawans forThe Nation.[7]
The film has a score of 78 onMetacritic.[8]
The film premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize.[9] The film also won the Grand Prix du Public 2002 at the Rencontres Internationales de Cinema in Paris and was nominated for a 2003Independent Spirit Award and listed inNew York Magazine’s “Top Ten of 2004.”[10]