Untitled 2001

This etching on paper by Jasper Johns is full of layered imagery, worked into with such tenderness and skill. I can imagine Johns in his studio, coaxing these faint images out of the plate, wiping it back, re-etching. The blacks are so delicate they are almost grey, and it's as though he is whispering, quietly repeating some kind of story from art history. I wonder, was he listening to music? I think of Johns deeply in conversation with other artists, both alive and dead, like Duchamp. Look at the diamond shapes! He's playing with perspective, inviting us to peer into a shallow space. And that long, ruled line, cutting diagonally across the frame. What does it mean? Or, what does it do? It sets off a chain reaction across the composition; an uncanny dynamic tension, a visual hum. Artists like Johns and others remind me that art is about seeing the world in new ways, and finding new ways to picture it.