Green Angel 2 [3rd Element] 1997

Jasper Johns made this print, Green Angel 2, using lithography, which is all about layering and building up images through a physical process. I just love to see how artists think through making. Check out the textures Johns coaxes from the stone. Some areas are solid blocks of earthy pigment, others are hatched with fine lines, and then there are those shapes that almost look like Rorschach blots – inviting you to see something, anything, in their forms. It's a dance between control and chance, a kind of controlled chaos. See how the image is built up through repetition of forms and motifs, creating a sense of depth and movement? This piece reminds me a little of Robert Rauschenberg’s approach to image-making. Both Johns and Rauschenberg were interested in the possibilities of collage and the ways in which different materials and images can be combined to create new meanings. Art isn’t created in a vacuum and it's a conversation across time.