 Jasper Johns THE SEASONS 1989 etching, aquatint on paper Collection Walker Art Center Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Stacy Roback, 1990 © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY |
Johns was born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia, and raised in South Carolina. He moved to New York in the eary 1950s and became friendly with a number of artists--notably Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham--who were inventing ways to introduce the experiences of daily life into their art, music, and dance works. Early on, Johns' images included what he called "things the mind already knows": commonly seen symbols such as the U.S. flag, alphabet letters, and numerals; household or studio objects such as paintbrushes, brooms, tableware, and clothes hangers; and "found" images that he encountered by chance and then incorporated into his work. Personal content, while present, was often hidden within these impersonal images or buried beneath Johns' highly tactile painted surfaces.
 Jasper Johns CATENARY (JACOB'S LADDER) 1999 encaustic on canvas and wood with objects Collection the artist © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY |
During the early 1980s his approach shifted, and viewers began to see a much more personal iconography in his work. There were depictions of things present in his studio or home, allusions to his childhood and souvenirs of his family, evocations of the spaces in which he lives and works, and quotations from artworks--his own and others'. He acknowledged this change in 1984: "In my early work I tried to hide my personality, my psychological state, my emotions. . . . I sort of stuck to my guns for a while, but eventually it seemed like a losing battle. Finally, one must simply drop the reserve."
 Jasper Johns UNTITLED 1987 ink on plastic Collection Dr. Paul and Dorie Sternberg, Glencoe, Illinois © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY |
Past Things and Present: Jasper Johns since 1983 is an opportunity to study this recent material on its own. The exhibition focuses on motifs introduced into the artist's work since 1983, and has at its core nearly all the prints made during the period, which are drawn from the Walker's complete archive of his graphic works. The balance of the show is comprised of paintings and drawings that expand the conversation around these motifs and weave in imagery familiar from his earlier work. Visitors will find several pieces based on the important 1983 canvas Ventriloquist, and Johns' Seasons will be represented by the beautiful encaustic painting Winter (1986) as well as numerous prints and drawings that treat the overall theme. His use of traced outlines of works by Holbein, Grünewald, and others is explored in a group of works that includes the encaustic-and-sand painting Green Angel (1990) from the Walker's collection. Johns' gorgeous monochromatic images from the so-called Catenary series of the late 1990s and early 2000s are represented, as well as several very recent works that incorporate the outlines of a painting by Manet. Pieces have been loaned from many important public and private collections--including Johns' own collection--and several of the works in the show have never before been publicly exhibited.
 Jasper Johns VENTRILOQUIST 1983 encaustic on canvas Collection The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum purchase with funds provided by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment Fund © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY |
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