Untitled 2001

This "Untitled" print by Jasper Johns is like a visual puzzle, made with etching on a plate. The whole thing is rendered in a kind of monochromatic sepia. It feels like a memory fading, doesn’t it? Look at the lower half, it’s a mass of cross-hatched lines, like someone scribbling in a notebook, trying to find a form. It’s all about the process, you know? The making of the image becomes the image itself. Those frantic lines down below contrast with the ghostly images above, a spiral galaxy, a group portrait, and a window. Are they real or imagined? Johns is always playing with layers, both physical and conceptual. He makes you question what you’re seeing and how you’re seeing it. It reminds me a little of Rauschenberg’s combines, where everyday objects collide with painting, creating something new and unexpected. It's this pushing and pulling, this embracing of ambiguity, that makes Johns's work so compelling, and so relevant.