Zoom-in Online

This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

For the first time ever, Jasper Johns prints will be featured as independent pieces of art.

The exhibit will be at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. from Sunday October 18, 2009 until April 2010. The "Editions with Additions: Working Proofs by Jasper Johns" includes 42 works on paper by Johns from 1962 - 1997. This is a unique opportunity to see how Jasper Johns refined his style and technique over those years.

The working proofs are prints on which Johns drew or painted additions during his working process; it includes etchings, lithographs and screenprints. Among these are different versions of Johns' The Seasons, pictured below:

Jasper Johns is often classified as a Neo-Dadaist: "artwork that has similarities in method or intent to earlier Dada artwork. Neo-Dada is exemplified by its use of modern materials, popular imagery, and absurdist contrast. It also patently denies traditional concepts of aesthetics." Thus, Johns appropriated popular iconography for his paintings to create a familiarality for his audience when said audience questioned Johns' subject matter.

Johns' artwork does not pander; rather, he neutralized the subject so a piece as seemingly simple as a pure painted surface could stand on its own with lasting value, like this piece by fellow Abtract Expressionist artist Barnett Newman:

(Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue? 1966)

Aside from this exhibition, the National Gallery of Art acquired 1,700 works by Johns in 2007, becoming the largest institutional repository of his work.

There is nothing quite like seeing a truly awe-inspiring artist's work in person, so if you're in the DC. area, you would be crazy not to check out Jasper Johns' exhibition.