Untitled (Embassies) [trial proof] 1999

This is a trial proof print by Jasper Johns, he never tells you what to think, he just presents it. I love that! Johns is all about the surface and the process. Look at the way he combines these blocks of colour and the photographic images of a family, and that harlequin pattern... It's a real material investigation that remains open. The juicy, thin washes of blues and greys create this hazy, dreamlike space. Then, he juxtaposes the painterly sections with the hard edges of the screen printed elements, like the stripes on the left, it gives the impression of disparate elements sitting side-by-side. Notice how the curve sweeps across the image, grounding the composition. Johns shares some sensibilities with Rauschenberg, they both blur the boundaries between painting and printmaking, representation and abstraction. It’s a real conversation. They ask what can art be? How can it be made? There are no easy answers here, and I like that.