Untitled (Purple Mezzotint) [trial proof F] 1995

Curator: This is an untitled piece, also known as Purple Mezzotint [trial proof F], from 1995 by Jasper Johns. It combines drawing and mixed media printing techniques. My first thought? Ghostly. The layering creates such an ethereal feel. Editor: It is a quiet piece, definitely, yet somehow unsettling. It evokes a sense of fragmented memory. I’m struck by how the blurred, overlaid forms suggest hidden histories and suppressed narratives. Curator: That’s interesting. I was immediately drawn to the material aspect: the textures created by the mezzotint, how he built up layers to create such subtle variations in tone. It reminds us that art making involves so much physical labor. We must account for the printer’s knowledge. The choice to combine it with drawing also disrupts typical print expectations. Editor: Absolutely. Considering Johns’s other work, his fascination with signs and symbols – targets, maps, flags – this piece, while abstract, feels like another coded system. I am curious to see the forms as reflecting an internal world of gendered conflict, anxiety about identity, and the political turbulence of the time. Curator: Perhaps, but what strikes me is his subversion of typical expectations, with traditional craft versus high art categories and a blurring of these supposed binaries. Printmaking practices are often marginalized when it comes to acknowledging art’s commercial roots. Jasper Johns clearly played a key role in elevating that perspective. Editor: I agree about binaries! By layering recognizable images and obscuring them simultaneously, is he not actively confronting and challenging how we perceive fixed identities? Maybe not only through flags but his own lived experience, creating multiple possibilities beyond one singular form? Curator: All in all, what a wonderful insight into how different processes work in concert to change our perception of a finished artwork. Editor: Indeed! Thinking about art as a way to create dialogue for personal and political reflections is what resonates with me today.