I am lucky for being able to devote myself to work that remains interesting to me.

It’s not what I set out to do, but I suppose the possibility that it might be a consequence is a nice thought.įor what in your life do you feel most grateful? 13th at the Whitney Museum of American Art.One of your friends, the poet Frank O’Hara, wrote that he was “sentimental enough to wish to contribute something to life’s fabric, to the world’s beauty.” Do you feel confident you have done that? The Jasper Johns Mirrors/ Doubles Exhibition is open to the public until Feb. Johns compels viewers to do a double take on reality and see how it transforms with the mind’s emotional tides. His compulsive gravitations towards certain objects, along with the various approaches he utilizes to portray them dismantles the familiar. Reflection, revisitation and refraction capture the essence of Jasper Johns’s Mind/Mirror Exhibition. The interplay of color and pattern blur the lines of reality and add vivacity to the mundane. The repurposed Savarin symbolizes how his artistic practice is interwoven into prosaic life. Cumulatively, the double images are an expression of Johns’ artistic persona. Each print is differentiated by a unique background of handprints, crosshatches and brush strokes. One room in the exhibition is strictly dedicated to Johns’ “Saverin Monotypes.” Seventeen prints with the motif of a coffee can containing weathered paint brushes occupy the space. He believes that his art is best conveyed in the process of creating rather than in the product itself.

Repetition also provides a visual map of Johns’s artistic methodology. Regardless, Johns wanted to present “things the mind already knows” and challenge his viewers to reexamine their connotative meanings. Some viewers interpret the painting as a romantic tribute to the nation while others perceive it to be a critique on overwhelming patriotism. The symbolism of “Three Flags” is still debated to this day. The repetition creates a mind-boggling convergence of lines and stars, alternating in red, white and blue. The individual paintings are layered in descending size order. As its title suggests, the work is constructed of three separate canvases depicting the American Flag. “Three Flags,” is one of Jasper Johns’s most iconic paintings displayed at the Whitney Museum. Together, the two images depict the purposeful construction of human beings within the fabric of the universe. Simultaneously, the dissection of intricate tendons and ligaments in the knee convey the extraordinary architecture of the human body. However, upon further inspection, the viewer can see that the particles create the faint outline of a stick figure. Initially, the speckled red and blue dots on a black oil abyss produce an uncanny sentiment of human insignificance in comparison to the infinitely vast universe. The Whitney Museum features his most recent work, which was completed in 2020, during the solitary period of the coronavirus pandemic.Īn oil painting titled “Slice,” illustrates a map of nearby galaxies superimposed by an anatomical diagram of the human knee. He became an emblematic figure of the minimalist movement, with geometry, color and repetition as essential elements of his work.Īt 91-years-old, Johns continues to create poignant art that reflects the relationship between self and surroundings. Jasper Johns emerged in the American art scene during the early 1950s. The subtle alterations illuminate the ways in which concepts are subject to an ever-changing spectrum of Johns’s emotional states. Motifs of the American flag, Savarin coffee cans, maps and the human anatomy are obsessively revisited in his work.īeyond the initial glance, visitors will notice the artworks are not identical rather, they are distinguished by a range of mediums, color palettes and dimensions. The gallery is a manifestation of the complex inner workings of Johns’s mind. Each gallery presents different prints, sculptures and paintings to show the various perspectives Johns utilizes while creating his art.Įxiting the elevator on the fifth floor of the Whitney Museum, visitors’ eyes instantly meet a dizzying array of doubles.

Adhering to the theme of mirrors and doubles, the museum spaces are meticulously constructed to reflect one another. The exhibition is two-fold, with the other half of Johns’s work presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (totaling 500 showcased pieces). This exhibition was intended to celebrate Jasper Johns’s 90th birthday last year, but its opening was postponed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The gallery guides visitors through over 70 years of Jasper Johns’s art with more than 250 works on display. It is the most expansive retrospective of the famous American artist. 29th, 2021, the Jasper Johns Mind/Mirror Exhibition debuted at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Nicoleta Papavasilakis, Contributing Writer

Jasper johns philadelphia museum of art