SFMOMA is currently hosting Jasper Johns’ first major Bay Area museum survey in 35 years. This exhibition brings together over 90 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, including work from local public and private collections.
Known for his painterly renderings of the American flag, targets, letters, and numbers, Johns was one of the few artists working during the Abstract Expressionist era who used recognizable images in his work. This treatment of imagery affiliates Johns more closely with Pop Art or Neo-Dada, because Johns distances motifs from their usual context, thereby nullifying the image’s popular associations.
Jasper Johns could easily be categorized as the most revered living artist in America. In 2006, the Johns’ painting False Start (1959) was sold for $80 million — the highest dollar amount ever received for a single work by a living artist. Also, in 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Seeing with the Mind’s Eye presents a unique opportunity to interact with over 50 years of American contemporary art. The exhibition catalogue, created by SFMOMA’s senior curator of painting and sculpture, includes an overview of Johns’ extensive works with critical essays and an in-depth look at the artist’s prolific career.
Seeing with the Mind’s Eye
SFMOMA
151 Third Street (near Mission)
through Feb. 13, 2013, Free–$18, 415-357-4000
www.sfmoma.org
