Jasper Johns has long been considered one of the most influential artists in Pop Art. His flag and number paintings, in which he repetitively worked the canvas using layers of encaustic wax, challenged the idea of iconography as art, blurring the division between a highly recognizable symbol and the artist’s creative labor. Johns deliberately chose methods and subject matter that would mask his own identity, once explaining, “I tried to hide my personality, my psychological state, my emotions… but eventually it became a losing battle.” Past Things and Present is a triumph, punctuated with deeply personal commentary by the artist and an invitation into his surroundings. Many of the works have never been publicly exhibited, and others are from the artist’s own private collection, including some recent intaglio prints that resurrect his Seasons series. Johns lets us into his studio, his childhood, and his admiration for other artists. In the 1983 canvas Ventriloquist, he even lets us into his bathtub, a fitting viewpoint from which to watch the mask of his earlier work being washed away layer by layer. You can catch some of those early pieces in the exhibit Pop3, Oldenburg, Rosenquist, Warhol, also running through February 14.
Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Pl.,
(612) 375-7622, www.walkerart.org
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