ART GALLERY


Photograph by Robert McKeever, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery
©Jasper Johns /VAGA, N.Y. & JASPAR,Tokyo,2013 E0434
Map
Jasper Johns' Flag, a painting depicting the American flag, catapulted him into the center of the art scene in 1955. Flag, and similarly Target that followed, have a particular motif in that what is represented carries an already understood meaning, and this renders the work to be both image and object. Flag garnered high praise for its originality and for its questioning of the very nature of the art of painting by presenting a faithful rendition of a standardized omnipresent image that is neither abstract nor figurative and that surprises no one. Map, like Flag and Target, follows the motif of being both image and object. Johns' first map themed painting of the 48 contiguous states, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, was done in 1961. Like Flag, it gained attention for being at the same time a straightforward representation of the United States and a work of art. Flag of 1965 is mostly a monochrome black painting, with the bottom quarter of the canvas done in oil paint, and the rest in charcoal. The composition of Map is like an upside down rendering of Johns' stars and stripes. What was Johns trying to say by equating the solid black map with the flag?