ART: Jasper Johns’ “Flag”
Recently my cousin, Emma, bought her first piece of art for her apartment in Washington, DC. Side note…She works for the District of Columbia’s in the Department of the Environment; Policy and Sustainability.
The piece she bought caught my eye primarily because of the highly textured surface of the painting. In the same vein of highly textural paintings I recently came across Jasper Johns’ “Flag”. It’s at the MoMa in NYC, and can’t wait to see it in person the next time I’m in the city. Here’s a little bit more about it taken from their web site.
Inspired by a dream, Johns painted his first painting of the American flag in 1954. This work became the first of a series that elevated commonplace objects to the status of art. In selecting a subject, Johns sought objects that “are seen and not looked at, not examined.” Using the ancient technique of encaustic, blending pigment with a binder of hot wax, the artist is able to achieve the highly textural surfaces that characterize his work.
