Jasper Johns

Popartuk Knowledge Base

Brief History

Jasper Johns Jr. is a contemporary U.S artist, specializing in painting and printmaking. Johns studied at the University of South Carolina from 1947 to 1948, before moving to New York City and studied briefly at the Parsons School of Design in 1949. Johns began to develop his ideas on art after exploring the contemporary art scene, along with Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham and John Cage.

Paintings and Style

Jasper Johns Jr. is best known for his painting Flag, which can be viewed here. His work is often described as “Neo-Dadaist”, as opposed to Pop Art, despite the fact that his subject matter often includes objects and images taken from popular culture.

Early works were composed using simple objects, such as flags, letters and numbers. His treatment of the surface is often very painterly, as he incorporates media such as the wax-based paint Encaustic, and plaster relief in his paintings. Johns also played with opposites, paradoxes, ironies and contradictions, similarly to Marcel Duchamp.

Sales

In 1998, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York paid more than $20 million for Johns' “White Flag”. Also, in 2006, private collectors Anne and Kenneth Griffin, founders of the Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, bought Johns' “False Start” for $80 million.