Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns is one of my favorite artists. I recently had the pleasure of seeing some of his work at an exhibition at the Greenville County Museum of Art. Some people have said that Jasper Johns is the world's greatest living artist. His art has wondered many. He was very fond of using the American Flag in many of his pieces. The exhibition at the museum had a few of his American Flag pieces. The way he uses different colors for the flag rather than the traditional colors is very bold. I think this is what makes his work so intriguing.

Jasper Johns grew up in Allendale South Carolina. Jasper described the early part of his life, he says, "In the place where I was a child, there were no artists and there was no art, so I really didn't know what that meant. I think I thought it meant that I would be in a situation different than the one that I was in." He studied at the University of South Carolina for a brief period of time and then decided to move to New York. He studied at the Parsons School of Design briefly while in New York. In 1958 Johns had his biggest break. A wealthy gallery owner came and saw his work and immediately set him up with an exhibition. At that first exhibition, the Museum of Modern Art purchased three pieces, making it clear that at Johns was to become a major force in the art world. I really believed that when I saw his work at the Greenville County Museum of Art. His art really stands out more than others I've seen.

At the exhibition many of the pieces were prints. I did not know that he did a lot of prints but I found out that he was very fascinated with printmaking. He printed a lot with composites. He really did the photoshop thing with his prints