One thing made of another, one thing used as another, we say one thing is not another thing or sometimes we say it is, or we say they are the same. Old art offers just as good as criticism of new art as new art offers of old. It has to be what you can’t avoid, a sense of life. The final statement has to be not a statement. I think some of the changes in my work relate to that I think that one wants from a painting. Between the Clock and the Bed, 1981Īt times I will attempt to do something that seems quite uncalled for in the painting so that the work won’t proceed so logically from where it is, but will go somewhere else. Take an object, do something to it, do something else to it, ditto. Aspects and movable aspects to what degree movable, entities splitting. It is not another and shape is not a color. The condition of a presence, the condition of being there, its own work, its own, is it. Finally, one must simply drop the reserve. I sort of stuck to my guns for a while, but eventually, it seemed like a losing battle. This was partly due to my feelings about myself and partly due to my feelings about painting at the time. In my early work I tried to hide my personality, my psychological state, my emotions. Whether to see the two parts as one thing or as two things. Here you move in all directions, but no matter where you turn, you come up against this wall.įizzles/Foirades Collaboration with Samuel Beckett, 1976Īrt is either a complaint or an appeasement.įlag on Orange Field II, 1958 Flag, 1967 Three Flags, 1958 In so many ways, it’s the future.īelow are some of my favorite pieces from the exhibition paired with my favorite Jasper John quotes taken from the 1990 documentary, Take An Object, which can be viewed on Judith Wechsler’s website HERE. It is the dream or nightmare of artificial intelligence. His patterns impart a rhythmic dissonance in which ideas and emotions fuse then dissolve-like constellations of behavior continuously morphing into the other. When I close my eyes I see an ordered magic to Jasper Johns that reads like code. The Broad and the RA have created something very special that speaks to people politically, socially, and emotionally as it deals with the artist’s struggle surrounding conformity, self-expression, and loss, which really is the human condition at its most basic level. I was completely taken aback by this most recent Johns exhibition, however, six years earlier when I saw Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind’s Eye at SFMOMA, I was moved, but not floored. Chronologically, one can see how his style, especially post-1960s, gains a fluidity and confidence that differs tremendously from, say, Flag in 1958. There is a restraint in his earlier works that most likely correlates to living as a closeted gay man with Southern roots through the last century. Relating to art involves a complex series of emotions and expressions that constantly reveal, arouse, and change. Jasper Johns is the perfect culmination of somewhat conflicting artistic styles. His work is often characterized as being part Abstract Expressionism, Neo-Dada, and Pop Art, and like the process of creating his paintings (as seen in the video below), layers of these influences are built into his aesthetic.įor instance: Abstract Expressionism is rebellious and nihilistic (repetition, movement, and control of images) Neo-Dada has its whimsy (surprise elements such as the arm and ruler imagery and allusions to other artists) and Pop Art is kitsch on good behavior, wink, wink (familiar images such as the flag, target, and block lettering). The Broad will be the only museum in North America to host Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth, which runs until May 13, 2018. It is the first major Johns exhibition in LA since his West Coast show at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1965. ![]() It is organized thematically and occupies the museum’s ground floor gallery, which is an expansive 11-room space behind Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors. Roberta Bernstein and The Broad’s Associate Curator, Ed Schad and Founding Director, Joanne Heyler. Its curators include Edith Devaney of the RA, art historian Dr. It features approximately 120 of Johns’ works and originated at London’s Royal Academy of Arts in 2017. The Broad’s latest exhibition, Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth, is a monumental homage to the artist, whose career has spanned over six decades. One hopes for something resembling truth, some sense of life, even of grace, to flicker, at least in the work.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |