Jasper Johns

In the Met today I checked out one of their exhibits, that of Jasper Johns' work during his 'grey' period.  Yes, these paintings were close to, if not exclusively completely neutrally unsaturated grey.   "Two Flags," made in 1959, was one that included his theme of the American Flag.  This piece had two flags, one on top of the other, that from a distance looked exactly the same.  Close up though, one finds that the different levels of grey shaded areas are made up of both tight and loose brushstrokes, that differ a great deal from each other.  Some of the figures of the stars are close to representative of the American flag stars, others only reference the shape abstractly. One was an X shape.  The texture is both rough and smooth, some parts flat and others raised up by thick layers of paint.  In some parts the canvas shows through, especially around some of the borders.  All of these dynamic elements create a very lively piece, but a surprisingly static one from a distance.  Whoa!