Catalog of an exhibition held at Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles, Nov. 2, 2012-Jan. 5, 2013. Includes bibliographical references.
Summary:
Matthew Marks is pleased to announce Jasper Johns: Numbers, 0 - 9, and 5 Postcards the next exhibition in his gallery at 1062 North Orange Grove, Los Angeles. The exhibition features thirteen bronze sculptures, five paintings, and five works on paper completed over the past two years. This exhibition marks the first time in Johns's more than 50-year career that he has chosen to debut a major body of work in Los Angeles. Numbers is the largest single bronze Johns has made and depicts his now classic pattern of stenciled numerals repeated in a grid. Measuring nearly 9 x 7 feet, Numbers is dwarfed only by the set of twelve 0 - 9 bronzes, which is Johns's most substantial sculptural work to date. Each of the thirteen sculptures in the exhibition has its own particular color, the result of the unique patina applied by the artist. Johns makes his sculptures in wax first, working the surfaces in a complex pattern of textures, often layering collaged elements such as impressions of newsprint, or of a key, a cast of his friend Merce Cunningham's foot, or one of his own hand. He then casts the waxes in bronze, and, finally, works over the surface again, applying the patina. Johns has titled his new paintings 5 Postcards. The oil and encaustic canvases and the related watercolor and crayon monotypes are brightly colored in contrast to the bronzes with their dark patinas. The imagery in these new works relates to several of Johns's earlier series and includes circular motifs that date back to the artist's Device Circle of the 1950s, figures of a man and a boy from the artist's, Seasons, from the mid-1980s, and a vase in profile, which first appeared in his work in the early 1970s. A fully illustrated publication with an essay by scholar and critic, David Joselit, will be published to accompany the exhibition. - from Matthew Marks Gallery web page: http://www.matthewmarks.com/los-angeles/exhibitions/2012-11-02_jasper-johns.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.