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Jasper Johns


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Jasper Johns

American, b. 1930
EDUCATION
University of South Carolina
BIOGRAPHY

"Jasper Johns (1930- ) was born in Augusta, Georgia and grew up in South Carolina. For a time he studied art at the University of South Carolina, but primarily worked alone, with no outside influences until around 1958. He moved to New York City in 1952. Johns' first well known paintings were done in 1954-55, including his well-known flag and target paintings. Johns held his first solo exhibition in 1958 at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City. The show featured his paintings of flags, targets, numerals and alphabets. In addition to painting seemingly-mundane objects, Johns also produced sculptures such as beer cans cast in bronze. At a time when Abstract Expressionism was popular, Johns' paintings and sculptures of ordinary objects were thought-provoking. His use of heavy encaustic emphasized the fact that his works were paintings, thereby forcing audiences to question the relationship of subject to object.
A Johns painting of a flag is not a flag, but a depiction of a flag. In many ways, Johns' philosophical approach to art is similar to that of Marcel Duchamp. Both men created works that forced viewers to face the deeper issues about art and reality.

In addition to being a painter, Johns has been an artistic advisor to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and a director of the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts since 1963. His work was recently featured in ""Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme"" at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, Texas. Johns' work is included in a vast number of permanent collections such as the Seibu Museum of Art in Tokyo, the Tate Gallery in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Denver Art Museum, the City Museum in Amsterdam, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC."



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