Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror Whitney Museum
As I mentioned the other day, this huge sprawling show is
going to be a big blockbuster and if you are planning on seeing it, (which you
should) be prepared for long lines and crowded galleries. The lines will be long
because of the checking of vax documentation and photo id’s. Usually member previews at the big museums
are not packed, but this one was different. Although not uncomfortable, there
were still the ladies who lunch parked in front of paintings, chatting about
this and that taking up space and not looking at the work, they are to be
avoided if possible. For a while I had my doubts about Johns, mostly from what
I had seen of his later work, but happily this show has lifted any of those
doubts I may have had about his art. It is a memorable show documenting the
long artistic life of a great artist. There is also a sister or brother show in
Philadelphia but I won’t be making a trip there, so the lavish Whitney one will
have to do.
It’s full of many of his familiar signature works the early flags, numbers and
maps along with many works not that familiar. My God I thought, I was 8 years
old when he did these paintings. He has
been thought of by some as a fussy
painter, tight, tense, static and predictable, every brush stroke placed in
perfect order. True to some degree, and I have always preferred the more
frantic and imaginative Robert Rauschenberg to him. Rauschenberg made things
and Johns painted things, but there is plenty of room in my mind and heart for
both of them. Their lives and art were intertwined and in a way its a very
autobiographical show, with labels finally announcing the gay relationship that
Rauschenberg and Johns had. It really
is a retrospective both in the works and the life. This gay stuff was not news
to those of us in the art world, we knew but this was a very closeted older gay
generation of the post war years and before. It was whispered not shouted. No doubt Johns gave his permission to finally
come out in labels at the age of 91 and better late than never. I met Johns
very briefly when I was a very young artist maybe 24, and it did not go well.
We were both drinking and I may have come on too strong and Johns reacted with
rudeness. I carried that humiliating moment ever since and to be honest my
reaction to his work was colored by that meeting. I’ve obviously gotten over
that incident and totally enjoyed, no loved this exhibition with its maps,
numbers, beer cans, phantom figures, body fragments, lush colors, coffee cans,
and mystery. You are in for a treat.
