It is the common place of the objects that make Jasper Johns’
paintings so intriguing. Targets, American flags, numbers,
and letters of the alphabet are typical subject matter in
much of Johns’ work. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s,
a time of abstract expressionism, his work filled a void in
the modern art scene. Behind these familiar objects he painted,
Johns explains, "There may or may not be an idea, and the
meaning may just be that the painting exists" (qtd. Pbs.org).
His paintings were more concerned with how the paint was applied,
rather than what the subject matter could mean.
Born in 1930 in America, Jasper Johns knew from a young age
that he wanted to be an artist. He studied at the University
of Southern Carolina before dropping out and moving to New
York in 1949. After two terms at a commercial art college
and time in military service, Johns met the artist Robert
Rauschenberg in 1954. In the beginning they designed window
displays together and used the money they earned for their
own art. They had a close friendship and Rauschenberg played
an important part in Johns’ artistic development.
It was Rauschenberg who influenced Johns to take his art
more seriously. Unlike the abstract expressionists who came
before both Johns and Rauschenberg, the two artists dealt
with the cultural or manmade objects over expressing feelings.
They were inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s "readymades"
which was a term describing objects he found and then put
into an artistic setting. Johns in particular was more interested
in the "emphatically hierarchical, organized image"
associated with contemporary art over the "’nonhierarchical
or ‘all-over’ quality of so much Abstract Expressionist painting"
(Stokstad 1127).
Johns’ work relied heavily on subtlety. Very subtle gradations
of color in the paint capture and reflect light in a different
way than the original object ever could. This use of color
in the encaustic paint, applied by a painterly touch, requires
the viewer to see the objects for something different than
their normal purpose.
Johns was interested in finding the line between an object
and a representation of an object. Whether he was painting
a flag, target, or some other already existing object, the
painting would never be anything but a painting. You would
not use the painting the same way you would use the actual
object. While you would never burn one of his flag paintings,
you would not salute it either. His work was literal by representing
imagery and objects in the most recognizable way. This style
"avoided the sometimes uncomfortable defensiveness viewers
felt with nonobjective art" (Wilkins 562).
An important milestone in Jasper Johns’ career was his first
one-man show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1958. The gallery
owner, Leo Castelli, visited Rauschenberg's studio and saw
Johns' work for the first time. Castelli was so impressed
with John’s ability and inventiveness that he offered him
a show. At that first exhibition, the Museum of Modern Art
purchased three pieces which sent a clear message that Johns’
was to be an important character in the art world. Thirty
years later, his paintings sold for more than any living artist
in history.
The 28 year old Johns saw his artistic reputation confirmed
after this show. He won over critiques and the show was a
success. The review by Robert Rosenblum stated:
To explain the fascination of these works, one might
refer to their disarming rearrangements of customary esthetic
and practical responses, but one should also mention that
commanding sensuous presence of their primer-like imagery,
which has the rudimentary, irreducible potency of the
best of Abstract Expressionism. And not least, there is
John’s elegant craftsmanship…which lends these pictures
the added poignancy of a beloved, handmade transcription
of unloved, machine made images (Castelli 1993)
While some gave the show a positive review, others were not
as impressed by Johns’ work, seeing it as uninteresting representation
of uninteresting objects. But for Johns, the importance of
his work was not in what was being depicted, but instead in
looking at something common with a fresh perspective.
The Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, was a great
influence on Johns. Wittgenstein recognized both a concern
for logic and a desire to investigate the time when logic
breaks down. Johns was exploring his own ideas of understanding
logic through his paintings.
Well know for his series of flag paintings, Flag (1954)
is one of Johns' key works. Made of encaustic, oil, and collage
on fabric mounted plywood (42 ½ x 60 5/8"). Inspired
by a dream, the painting depicts the American flag rendered
in heavily textured brushwork. Johns continued his study of
flags by varying the media and color of the flags he depicted.
He continued his trend of creating works of common objects
when he painted such things as targets, numbers, and maps.
In the 1960’s, he began to introduce some of his early sculptural
ideas into painting. While some of his early sculpture had
used everyday objects such as paint brushes, beer cans, and
light bulbs, these later works would incorporate them in collage.
In the 1970s, a crosshatching motif characterized much of
his work. The work is more monotone than his previous work
as seen in the painting Scent. This style of work continued
to dominate Johns’ work through the 1970’s.
In the late 1980’s, Johns broke ground again with a four-painting
cycle entitled The Seasons, shown in New York. As the
example above, called Spring, illustrates, the 75 by
50-inch paintings were considered especially significant in
American art history. This painting was a departure from the
style of his paintings in the 1970s. He became interested
in an autobiographical element in his work. For some, the
new sentimental work seemed like a contradiction to his earlier
works.
Through Johns’ career, collaboration was an important part
in advancing his own art, and he worked regularly with a number
of artists including Robert Morris, Andy Warhol, and Bruce
Neumann. The impact of Johns’ work is still felt today. He
was art in most major museums and his work is continuing to
inspire today’s artists.
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