Jasper Johns
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“Intention involves such a small fragment of our consciousness and of our mind and of our life.”
Jasper Johns at Pearl Street studio in 1955. Photograph by Robert Rauschenberg
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“Using the design of the American flag took care of a great deal for me
because I didn’t have to design it. So I went on to similar things like
the targets – things the mind already knows. That gave me room to work
on other levels.”
Flag, 1954-55 by Jasper Johns
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“My primary concern is visual form. The visual meaning may be discovered
afterwards – by those who look for it. Two meanings have been ascribed
to these American Flag paintings of mine. One position is: ‘He’s painted
a flag so you don’t have to think of it as a flag but only as a
painting’. The other is: ‘You are enabled by the way he has painted it
to see it as a flag and not as a painting.’ Actually both positions are implicit in the paintings, so you don’t have to choose.”
Three Flags, 1958 by Jasper Johns