Untitled (Geldzahler) [trial proof] 1998

Jasper Johns made this trial proof sometime in the twentieth century, using lithography with two additions of spray paint. It's fascinating how the layered lines create a sense of depth, like peering into a complex machine or maze. You know, artmaking is a process of building and deconstructing, and Johns really shows us that here. Looking closely, the surface has a cool, almost metallic feel, the lithographic ink lying flat on the paper. The smudges and ghostlike forms evoke a sense of history and memory, as if the image has been worn down by time. Those two black spots, though, like spray-painted tears, disrupt the cool surface with their visceral, immediate presence. They bring an emotional punch that the rest of the print seems to hold back. Johns’s use of found imagery and his interest in systems reminds me a lot of Rauschenberg, his contemporary and sometimes collaborator. But where Rauschenberg embraced chaos and collage, Johns seems to be searching for a kind of order, even if it’s a broken or incomplete one.