Untitled [1st state] 1997

This is an etching made by Jasper Johns, and it’s filled with delicate lines that weave a story on the plate. It looks like Johns is mapping something out, maybe a dreamscape, or the blueprints for a poem. You can see him there, in his studio, head bent over the plate, scratching away with his tool, trying to get it just right. You know he’s thinking, rethinking, adjusting. I know that feeling well: sometimes the best part of making art is getting lost in the process, letting the materials lead you. He is like Cy Twombly or Rauschenberg, but like no one else as well. See that ladder over there? And those funny shapes hovering around? They’re like secret codes, waiting to be deciphered. Johns is inviting us into his world, one line at a time. It reminds us that every artist borrows, steals, and riffs off of what came before, making something new in the process. We’re all in conversation, across time and space, with each other, inspiring new dreams and new lines.