Green Angel 2 [trial proof I] 1997

Editor: This is "Green Angel 2 [trial proof I]", an etching made by Jasper Johns in 1997. It's giving me a muted, almost ghostly vibe because of the pale green ink. I’m intrigued by the stacked, seemingly unrelated images. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's funny you say "ghostly," because when I look at this, I think about the process of memory – how fragments float up, how they're layered and imperfect. Johns often works with recognizable imagery, disrupting our easy consumption of it. Here, you see a compilation of different motifs. Does that linear section remind you of floorboards, perhaps? Editor: I see that now, yeah! It kind of grounds the whole image. I was too busy trying to decode everything to notice smaller details. Is there a specific story behind the angel imagery? Curator: Well, angels in art are often messengers or symbols of transition. But with Johns, you have to resist seeking a singular, definitive meaning. Maybe it’s a figure from his past, a representation of something lost, or a reminder of his anxieties, constantly changing like memories tend to do, you know? Does the repetition feel melancholic to you? Editor: Definitely! Knowing that he doesn’t necessarily have a concrete intention makes it even more so. It’s a powerful visualization of the way our brains work and makes the whole thing more impactful than just seeing a painting with an angel. Curator: I’m glad we had this little dive because that is how my memories also flow: fragmented, repeated, re-edited, and tinged in light and shadow. And hopefully now our listeners will be thinking a bit about their own processes of remembering.