Mind/Mirror is a Jasper Johns retrospective that is opening this fall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You just might run into me there, haha.
This morning, I purchased the catalog. I’m excited! I sort of collect writings and catalogs on the work of Jasper Johns.
When it comes to my visual work, I have always considered Johns to be one of my biggest influences. I have always been drawn to his work, his methodology and ideas. And I have appreciated his reluctance to go into very much depth about it all. I am looking forward to receiving the book.
Also, I cherish every opportunity I have ever had to experience and study Jasper Johns’ paintings up close in museums in New York and Chicago and D.C.
Scroll down for a poem I wrote about meeting one’s heroes. I have mixed feelings on the subject.
#jasperjohns #targets #mirrors #mind #mindmirror #flags #dreams #shadows #Johns #painting #contemporarypainting #art #contemporaryart #philadelphia #philadelphiamuseumofart
Nice to Meet You (the Targets, the Numbers, the Flags)
I don’t paint anything like Jasper Johns
but by mentioning his name I have started you
up a tree with many branches, each branch
representing a certain move
as if this were a game of chess—
a painting by Jasper Johns
like Cicada or Between the Clock and the Bed
the canvas filled with crosshatches
each crosshatch representing an idea
a certain gesture of the mind
as if the mind were a hand that could point
in five different directions
at once.
_
I once beat a woman
in a chess match in twelve moves
She lost her queen
It could’ve gone on a lot longer
but she resigned.
_
There are people & occupations
the person & the occupation
& I’m working on sorting this
out, separating the person from the
occupation, who someone is from
what they do
as if I were a saint—
as if I’m not interested in what one
does, as if I were not interested
in the fact that
Jasper Johns is an artist, as if it were false
that I’m still interested in the targets
the numbers, the flags.
_
With everything
to lose
& nothing
to gain
my friend
Blake
would only
play chess
against me
if
we were
drunk
_
It’s probably a good thing
that it’s highly unlikely
I will ever meet the artist
Jasper Johns
I don’t think I’d have
that much to say
other than
Hi,
nice to meet you.
I’ve always admired
your work.