Untitled (Orange Mezzotint) [E trial proof] 1995

This trial proof in orange mezzotint is by Jasper Johns, who was born in 1930. It's all about layering and building up tone, right? You can almost feel Johns scraping away at the plate, figuring out what to reveal and what to obscure. I imagine him in the studio, wrestling with the image, adding and subtracting, trying to find the sweet spot where everything clicks. It's like a conversation he's having with himself, and with the materials. The mezzotint is rich and velvety, and the orange hue gives it a warmth that's both inviting and unsettling. I can see Johns in this, this constant questioning, this desire to push the boundaries of what a print can be. He’s in dialogue with artists like Rauschenberg, and Duchamp. Thinking about how an artwork relates to language and the world. It’s a messy, imperfect process, but that’s what makes it so compelling.