Jasper Johns in artist quotes on painting & life in the U.S. - free resource, American art history

Jasper Johns in quotes - the artist on his ‘Flag, Target, Number’ paintings & his life in the U.S. - free resource for students, pupils, art-lovers and teachers in American art history

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Jasper Johns was an American abstract painter, famous for his ‘Flags, Maps and Number’ paintings. He became as young artist close friends with artist Robert Rauschenberg; they shared a studio for some years and were each other sparring-partner in creating art. Jasper John’s artist quotes report about his early and important searching period; he was the more intellectual artist, Robert Rauschenberg was his more practical mate.

As main motifs for his paintings Jasper Johns liked to use daily-life things like ‘Flags, Maps, Numbers and Beer cans’. Johns himself: I made the ‘Flags and Target’-paintings (see right)) to open men’s eyes… …they are seen and not looked at - examined’ - John’s comment on his exhibition of the ‘Flag, Target and Number’ paintings in 1958.
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Some selected artist-quotes of American artist Jasper Johns - as a short introduction of his extended quotes in the PDF:

• ’I make what it pleases me to make… …I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don’t think that’s a painter’s business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason. I intuitively paint flags.’ - quote of Jasper johns, in: ‘Trend to the Anti-Art: Targets and Flags’, Newsweek 51 no. 13, March 1958, p. 96

• ’Sometimes I see it and then paint it. Other times I paint it and then see it. Both are impure situations, and I prefer neither… .My work contains similar possibilities for the changing focus of the eye. his quote cited in: ‘Sixteen Americans’, (1959) D. C. Miller, Moma, New York, U.S., p. 22

• ’As you has written, people say that my works are ‘neutral’. But if you paint something, it is ‘something’, and it cannot be neutral. Being neutral is a mere expression of a form of intention. - quote from John’s letter to Yoshiaki Tono, August 1964
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  selection of free art-resources on American artist Jasper Johns:

  • biographical notes of Jasper Johns, on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Johns
  • artist-quotes of ànd about Jasper Johns, on Wikiquote: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jasper_Johns
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    editor: Fons Heijnsbroek / Matrozenhof (FotoDutch on Wikiquote):<br>[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/User:FotoDutch]