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(whimsical music)
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- [Narrator] Jasper Johns may be the most important
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American artist of our times.
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From his first show in 1958, he has been one
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of the major forces in modern art.
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His art is accessible, yet full of nuance and mystery.
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Ordinary objects, rethought and reborn.
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Riddles of abstraction.
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Riddles of representation.
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And through it all, a consistent thread.
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- There's probably very few people you could name
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who haven't been touched by Jasper.
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And not so much as doing what Jasper does,
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but being influenced by how Jasper thinks
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about what he does.
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- $6,400,000.
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Telephone bidder, against you all in here, fair warning.
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That's $6,400,000.
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(gavel bangs) Telephone bidder.
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- [Narrator] In recent years, the value of Johns' work
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has risen to staggering heights.
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He now commands the highest prices
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of any living artist in the world.
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Is his art the ultimate commodity
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in a materialistic society?
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Or is it really exceptional?
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Not everyone thinks so.
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- You see, I look upon Johns' career as being
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pretty much a downhill slide from a very not terribly high
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point to begin with.
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- [Narrator] Johns' circle has included
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some of the most important creative figures
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in American life.
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People like painter Robert Rauschenberg,
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composer John Cage, and choreographer Merce Cunningham.
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- The experience can give you a different kind of sense
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about what life is about.
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And certainly, Jasper's way of looking at things
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has done that for many of us.
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- I had a book which you could put
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alongside "Finnegans Wake" and line for line
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it would explain the mysteries of "Finnegans Wake".
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But once they're explained, the book itself remains
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just as mysterious.
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(piano music)
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(jazz music)
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- [Worker] No that was something it's not supposed to do.
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That was on that series on the left there.
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If you wanna open that up, you can take like a spray--
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- [Jasper] It depends on what it joins.
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- [Worker] Um, that's summer.
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(haunting music)
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- [John] I like what I see to be real or to be my idea
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of what is real.
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And I think I have a kind of resentment against illusion
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when I can recognize it.
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- In the process of painting a picture,
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Johns does not feel that he is providing every answer.
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In fact, the painting itself is asking a question
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as much as it's providing an answer.
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- [John] Also, a large part of my work has been involved
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with the painting as object as real thing in itself.
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And in the place of that tragedy, so far,
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my general development has moved in the direction
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of using real things as painting.
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(piano music)
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- We may have to edit this out,
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but I mean, Jasper's a classic kind of dauber,
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and I like the daubing and sort of because it's like getting
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into the painting.
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To me, it's a kind of sort of a, I don't know,
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you could say very sophisticated or very unsophisticated
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version of finger painting.
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- He once painted the "Flag", which made him notorious.
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But in fact, his work is very difficult.
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Quite conservative, except technically,
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where it is very experimental.
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- [John] At times, I will attempt to do something
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which seems quite uncalled for in the painting
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so that the work won't proceed so logically
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from where it is, but will go somewhere else.
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My experience of life is that it's very fragmented.
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In one place, certain kinds of things occur.
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And in another place, a different kind of thing occurs.
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I would like my work to have some vivid indication
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of those differences.
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(jazz music)
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I don't want my work to be an exposure of my feelings.
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- [Narrator] Time magazine 1959, Jasper Johns,
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29, is the brand new darling of the art world's bright,
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brittle avant-garde.
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A year ago, he was practically unknown.
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Since then, he has had a sell-out show in Manhattan
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and has exhibited in Paris and Milan.
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Something remarkable happened at Johns' first show.
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Alfred Barr, the guiding light
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of New York's Museum of Modern Art,
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bought three of his paintings for the museum,
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an unprecedented honor for a young artist.
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Venice, 1988.
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Three decades later, Jasper Johns has emerged
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as the preeminent American painter and printmaker.
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The Philadelphia Museum presents his work
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as the American entry to the Venice Biennale,
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one of the world's most prestigious art events.
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Johns is awarded the grand prize.
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Time magazine now compares him to Rembrandt.
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- It seemed obvious that that was gonna happen to Jasper.
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You know, it didn't seem obvious to me
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that it would happen to me.
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And, you know, but I didn't,
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who cared about those kind of things?
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I mean, it wasn't really interesting.
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I mean, making the paintings is what you cared about.
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- [John] One would like not to be led.
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Avoid the idea of a puzzle which could be solved.
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Remove the signs of thought.
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It is not thought which needs showing.
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- [Narrator] Making art is the center of Jasper Johns' life.
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That is all that can easily be said about him.
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When one tries to establish a fix on why he creates
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or what his art means, there are no simple answers.
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- There may or may not be an idea and the meaning
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may just be that the painting exists.
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And then like anything,
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disturbs people or calms people or what they find,
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people find something to do with it.
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It's in the space in which they are.
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And they react to it as they would to anything else.
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(drill whirring)
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- Yeah. - Like several twists.
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- [Narrator] Although the man and his art are elusive,
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his effect on those around him is hard to miss.
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There is a noticeable tension in the air
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when he enters the US Galleries in Venice.
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This is Johns' first major show in 13 years.
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He is nervous, concerned, focused on every little detail.
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- Why can't it be done today?
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Why can't the things be put in the wall today
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so that whenever we have the picture,
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we can decide which goes where.
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They're the same size.
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- Most art historians think that artists create
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the way art historians write.
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But finally it comes down to the making of the object
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and making it as beautiful, as disturbing as this, as that,
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as possible, that the artist is trying to achieve.
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And that is the case with Johns.
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And at one point I asked him what are his great ambitions.
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And he said something to the effect that simply
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to make each thing I do well.
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- [John] We say one thing is not another thing,
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or sometimes we say it is, or we say they are the same.
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- So, looked at the name under the painting
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and it said Jasper Johns,
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a name that I had never heard before.
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And at that time, when I first saw it,
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I did not understand that it was a target.
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But as luck would have it, a few days later,
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I went to Rauschenberg studio and then Rauschenberg said,
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well, that we wanted to have a drink,
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perhaps, while we were looking at his painting.
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And he didn't have an icebox but Jasper Johns
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on the floor below had one.
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I couldn't wait to see his painting and ask Bob.
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But we could not interrupt the proceedings there
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at his studio and go down to Jasper's studio
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and see what he was doing.
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So, good guy that Rauschenberg was, he said,
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"Fine, let's go."
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And so we went down.
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And then I was confronted with a miraculous array
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of unprecedented images.
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- [Narrator] Castelli offered Johns his first show
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on the spot and has represented him ever since.
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(eccentric music)
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- One night, I dreamed I'd painted a large American flag,
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and the next morning, I got up and I went out
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and bought materials to begin it.
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There are some things I stitched
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onto the canvas with thread.
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It's a very rotten painting because I began it
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in like a house enamel paint,
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but it wouldn't dry quick enough.
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And then I had, in my head, this idea
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of something I had read, I had heard, I don't know what,
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about wax encaustic.
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And I changed in the middle of the painting to that,
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because the encaustic just has to cool.
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And then it's hard and you don't blur it again.
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- [Narrator] Johns described his flags and targets
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as things the mind already knows.
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A stark contrast with the art of the abstract expressionists
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whose images could be read as emotional Rorschach tests.
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- The people who followed
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and did imitation abstract expressionism were fairly boring.
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And there was a hiatus, there was a dull moment there
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in American art.
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And there was a longing,
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there was a need for something to happen.
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- [Narrator] Johns proposed a cooler alternative,
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using real things as a point of departure,
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but only as a formal device.
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- And the paintings that followed immediately,
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which were paintings of targets and numbers,
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gave me the same opportunity to feel removed
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from the work, neutral toward it.
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Involved in the making
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but not involved in the judging of it.
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- The activity of making,
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just the process was preeminent in Jasper.
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And the results seemed like they would take care of itself
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once the supposition was stated,
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whether it was going to be a map or a target or whatever.
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And that gave him a great freedom to intensely
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follow the program within the limitation
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that he set for himself.
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- It doesn't just refer to things which are images,
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but even ways of doing things within the painting.
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Ways of painting, if it occurs to me that there is a way
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of painting that I can introduce into my work
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that I have not used before,
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that somehow I will become a more skillful artist.
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(chuckles)
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I don't know that that's true at all.
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- He had taken painting
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to the last place it could go, really.
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I mean, you know, by using essentially
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two-dimensional objects and flattening them out
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and then realizing that they weren't that flat
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and the wax helped to dispel
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the idea that they were that flat.
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But those images were so arresting and so beautifully done.
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I mean, other people have done that but it never worked.
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- Johns has also been playing, really, from the start.
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You look at those Ballantine Ale cans that painted bronze.
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And is it a still life?
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Is it a joke?
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Is it a monument?
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Is it to fool your eye or not?
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And you find these kind of paradoxical questions
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at the core of almost everything Johns has done.
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- I heard that Bill de Kooning had said about Leo,
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with whom he was annoyed over something,
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"That son of a bitch, you could give him two beer cans
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"and he could sell them."
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And at that time, I had made a couple of sculptures.
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I had made one or two flashlight
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and one or two of a light bulb.
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And when I heard this story I thought,
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what a fantastic sculpture for me.
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I mean, really, just absolutely perfect.
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So, I made this work.
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I did it.
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And Leo sold it.
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- [Narrator] Two artists were at the center
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of this artistic revolution that rejected abstraction
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of favor of real images.
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While Jasper Johns opted for detachment,
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making us see ordinary things in new ways,
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his friend Robert Rauschenberg combined
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highly charged images because of their meanings.
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Their art signaled the end of the dominance of abstract art
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in America and laid the groundwork for both pop art
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and minimalism.
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- I mean, Rothko, I remember, was extremely depressed
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and felt almost humiliated that people
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who had bought his paintings would have such bad taste
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as to buy Johns or Rauschenberg or Andy Warhol.
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- It was a terrifically elegant razzle-dazzle
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of flower and Jasper's, I remember.
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He had on white tie and teals.
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He likes to dress high style.
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And there were bunches of these dowagers in evening gowns
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draped with jewels there.
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And it was this occasion that I connect that story
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and I have the impression that I actually heard this.
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And it's typical of him that he,
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one of these dowagers was cross-questioning him
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and she said, "Well, Mr. Johns, I know you come
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"from the old south.
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"And I assume you come from an old plantation family."
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And he looked her straight in the eye and said,
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"No, ma'am, I'm poor white trash."
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(acoustic music)
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- [John] My work feeds upon these to use.
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My work has something else to it.
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A constant negation of myself and partly due to my feelings
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place a different kind of thing occurs.
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I include them.
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Deluge, has state, with paint, rub it while,
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but o'er the mirror, canvas.
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In my early work, I tried to hide my personality,
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my psychological state, by recognizing...
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(train horn honking)
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- [Narrator] Jasper Johns grew up
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in Allendale, South Carolina, a small country town.
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- [Marion] Back there, when Jasper was here,
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it was such a small town.
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You went out to play and you didn't even have to say
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where you were going because everybody took care of you.
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- [Narrator] Jasper's grandfather, W.I. Johns,
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a prosperous farmer, had been one of the founders
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of Allendale County.
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- [Marion] And Jasper used to come home with me from school.
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And Granddaddy'd pick him up after supper.
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That was after he was old enough to go to school.
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Because he came to his grandfather when he was two.
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- [Narrator] After his parents separated,
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Jasper's home was his grandfather's old brick house.
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Both parents lived a few blocks away.
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- [John] Not a lie statement it has to be what
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you can't avoid, a deliberate, helpless statement.
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It has to be final.
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The deliberate statement has to be
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what you can't avoid saying.
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I think that life, the sense of life, the final statement,
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has to be what you can't avoid saying.
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I think that one wants from a painting a sense
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of a sense of life, a final suggestion.
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Life, the final you can't statement has one wants.
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It has to be what you sense of life.
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Final suggestion, the final statement,
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has to be a deliberate botch, a deliberate can't.
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Avoid saying...
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- It had been my intention to be an artist
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since I was a child.
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And in the place where I was a child,
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there were no artists, and there was no art.
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So I really didn't know what that meant.
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And I think it meant that I would be able to be
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in a situation other than the one that I was in.
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I think that was the primary fantasy.
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Whereas the society there seemed to accommodate
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every other thing I knew about, but not that possibility.
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So I think that, in part, the idea of being an artist
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was that kind of fantasy.
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Of being out of this.
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Then, because there's none of this here,
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so if you're going to be it, you have to be somewhere else.
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(jazz music)
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- [Narrator] Johns arrived in New York in the early '50s.
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He was working as a night clerk at Marlboro Books
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when he first met Robert Rauschenberg,
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a somewhat more established but still starving artist.
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One of the things the two did to support themselves
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was creating window displays.
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- Well, the concept was nature morte, still lifes.
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And having just gotten a book on famous still lifes,
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I thought gee, that'd make wonderful windows for Tiffany.
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I was new at Tiffany.
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This happened, I think, in '56.
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And who else to do it except Bob and Jasper, you know?
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Well, with Bob and Jasper, you see,
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I wasn't showing their serious work, really.
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They were creating display things for me.
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And that, to me, is very serious work.
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It's not serious enough to other artists, I suppose.
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But I think one influences the other.
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It can't help it, you know?
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What you are comes out in whatever you do.
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It doesn't matter whether you're doing
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windows or a painting.
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- There was one thing that they were doing in which
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they took a big Casaba melon.
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They made it out of stuff and it looked like
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somebody had taken a knife and whacked it.
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And then they put it in Tiffany's windows with diamonds
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and jewels hanging all over it.
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- I wanted him to cast everything in dimension
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and then give it a painterly quality.
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And so they did.
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They cast real pomegranates.
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They cast the open pomegranate.
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They looked so real, it was unbelievable.
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They looked as real as they do in the painting.
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They really collaborated.
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And I don't know who did what.
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You know, exactly as those flowers.
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I don't know why I say Jasper, but I just,
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mm, immediately think of Jasper
382
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when I look at those flowers.
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I don't know, maybe Bob did them.
384
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But I had the feeling Jasper did them.
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(chuckles)
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- [Narrator] They were great windows,
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but after Johns' first successful shows,
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00:25:03,890 --> 00:25:06,253
window design wasn't needed to pay the rent.
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- Originally, with the targets and flags and so forth,
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00:25:18,690 --> 00:25:22,363
one could say that one wasn't interested in the subjects,
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but one was interested in the painting.
392
00:25:26,750 --> 00:25:29,410
But now we're in the position of having to say
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00:25:29,410 --> 00:25:31,210
that we're interested in everything.
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- [Narrator] Johns is largely a self-taught artist.
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Of much more importance than a formal education
396
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,410
were the friendships that he developed early in his career
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with a group of talented artists.
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00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,973
- There was a period in my life where Merce, John,
399
00:25:58,650 --> 00:26:02,640
and Bob Rauschenberg and I were very close.
400
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:03,473
And
401
00:26:07,260 --> 00:26:09,533
we all were together very often.
402
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:22,480
And since all three of them were and are artists
403
00:26:22,980 --> 00:26:24,553
that I admire very highly,
404
00:26:29,970 --> 00:26:31,600
I look to them for
405
00:26:37,030 --> 00:26:39,083
probably for ideas.
406
00:26:40,192 --> 00:26:43,570
And for approval of what I did,
407
00:26:43,570 --> 00:26:48,570
John being the most sort of teachy member of the group.
408
00:26:51,380 --> 00:26:54,170
And probably having
409
00:26:58,084 --> 00:27:01,597
a clearer understanding of all the different
410
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:06,593
mediums involved that we were all using.
411
00:27:08,930 --> 00:27:13,063
He was of extreme importance to me in that time.
412
00:27:20,150 --> 00:27:21,880
- [Narrator] While Cage's work has moved
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from traditional composition to performances based
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00:27:24,730 --> 00:27:28,300
on chance, Johns continues to create his art
415
00:27:28,300 --> 00:27:29,763
through intense struggle.
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00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:31,620
- [Piano Player] Okay, so I have to hit it
417
00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:32,870
just to the right.
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- Well, you see, I think often in my choices
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00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:37,770
I go through a kind of
420
00:27:43,506 --> 00:27:47,839
a process of psychological disturbance that would be
421
00:27:49,230 --> 00:27:50,883
very offensive to John.
422
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,333
And he would find it absolutely foolish.
423
00:27:56,333 --> 00:27:58,783
And worse than foolish, offensive.
424
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I believe (chuckles).
425
00:28:02,510 --> 00:28:07,510
- But that allows for immediately a complexity
426
00:28:08,950 --> 00:28:10,490
in one way or another.
427
00:28:10,490 --> 00:28:15,490
And I think that very thing appealed to me,
428
00:28:15,510 --> 00:28:19,530
to my eye, to my sense of the way I look at a painting
429
00:28:19,530 --> 00:28:21,240
right from the beginning.
430
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,700
And I think, perhaps, it's because in my own work
431
00:28:24,700 --> 00:28:29,123
I have a tendency to deal in complexity rather than,
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00:28:31,470 --> 00:28:35,110
so to speak, simple things involving dancing,
433
00:28:35,110 --> 00:28:36,060
involving movement.
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00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,500
- [Narrator] In the late '60s, Johns served
435
00:28:39,500 --> 00:28:43,090
as the artistic advisor for the Cunningham Dance Company.
436
00:28:43,090 --> 00:28:46,570
His target image is still the company's emblem.
437
00:28:46,570 --> 00:28:49,480
He created costumes and sets for a number of works,
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00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:53,070
including "Walkaround Time" which also paid homage
439
00:28:53,070 --> 00:28:56,080
to another of his artistic sources of inspiration,
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00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:57,700
Marcel Duchamp.
441
00:28:57,700 --> 00:28:59,880
The set for "Walkaround Time" is based
442
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,637
on the Duchamp composition "Large Glass".
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00:29:03,515 --> 00:29:06,515
(abstract warbling)
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00:29:35,370 --> 00:29:37,480
It was Rauschenberg who took Johns
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00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,763
to the Philadelphia Museum to see their Duchamp collection.
446
00:29:42,410 --> 00:29:44,960
Marcel Duchamp was a well-known Cubist painter
447
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,010
when his "Nude Descending a Staircase"
448
00:29:47,010 --> 00:29:49,293
shocked the art world in 1913.
449
00:29:51,230 --> 00:29:54,690
During the first World War, Duchamp was one of the founders
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00:29:54,690 --> 00:29:58,010
of the anti-art movement known as Dada.
451
00:29:58,010 --> 00:30:00,200
Art was a question of definition.
452
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,140
If one said it was art, it was.
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00:30:03,140 --> 00:30:04,890
- My God, painting the American flag.
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I mean, it's sort of the ultimate Dada gesture.
455
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Or painting a flag of the United States.
456
00:30:10,770 --> 00:30:15,770
I mean, and this reintroduced a certain element
457
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,143
of what you can call the absurd from Dada.
458
00:30:21,103 --> 00:30:25,140
And what I would call certain element of nihilism.
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00:30:25,140 --> 00:30:28,730
- My Aunt Gladys, once, when she read a thing in a magazine,
460
00:30:28,730 --> 00:30:30,830
wrote me a letter saying she was so proud of me
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00:30:30,830 --> 00:30:33,710
because she had worked so hard to instill some respect
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00:30:33,710 --> 00:30:36,440
for the American flag in her students.
463
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,463
And she was so glad the mark had been left (chuckles) on me.
464
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- [Narrator] When Duchamp called ordinary things works
465
00:30:46,710 --> 00:30:50,403
of art, he was making an assault on the very nature of art.
466
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,210
Johns seems more interested in ambiguity and transformation
467
00:30:56,210 --> 00:30:58,770
when he works with everyday objects.
468
00:30:58,770 --> 00:31:02,430
- There's one period in which he was studying
469
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:05,430
Duchamp's notes for "The Large Glass" very carefully,
470
00:31:05,430 --> 00:31:07,560
and he did sketchbook notes.
471
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,480
And he does, from time to time, do sketchbook notes,
472
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,380
but not very often.
473
00:31:13,380 --> 00:31:17,180
I mean, things will mainly arise out of an encounter
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00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:19,793
with something that provokes him.
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00:31:21,030 --> 00:31:24,400
- [Narrator] Duchamp has obviously aroused Johns' interest.
476
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:28,430
The "Mona Lisa" alludes to Duchamp's "Mona Lisa" satire.
477
00:31:28,430 --> 00:31:31,853
And Duchamp's own profile shows up in Johns' paintings.
478
00:31:35,740 --> 00:31:38,050
Johns is also interested in the ideas
479
00:31:38,050 --> 00:31:40,670
of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein,
480
00:31:40,670 --> 00:31:42,420
who felt that the world could be defined
481
00:31:42,420 --> 00:31:44,563
by logic and precise language.
482
00:31:45,820 --> 00:31:49,210
Wittgenstein talked about pictures as models of reality,
483
00:31:49,210 --> 00:31:51,270
suggesting that their elements should be related
484
00:31:51,270 --> 00:31:53,133
in the same way that real things are.
485
00:31:55,190 --> 00:31:58,240
Both Johns and Wittgenstein are attracted to areas
486
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,240
where logic breaks down.
487
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,323
Where things seem real but are not.
488
00:32:03,210 --> 00:32:06,257
Wittgenstein says, "I am shown the duck rabbit
489
00:32:06,257 --> 00:32:08,007
"and asked what it is.
490
00:32:08,007 --> 00:32:10,767
"I may say it's a duck rabbit,
491
00:32:10,767 --> 00:32:14,287
"but I may also react to the question quite differently.
492
00:32:14,287 --> 00:32:16,867
"Had I replied, it's a rabbit,
493
00:32:16,867 --> 00:32:20,000
"the ambiguity would have escaped me."
494
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,000
(somber jazz music)
495
00:32:42,398 --> 00:32:45,231
(soft jazz music)
496
00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:48,830
Jasper Johns' art has involved a subtle
497
00:32:48,830 --> 00:32:51,710
and continuous shifting of ground.
498
00:32:51,710 --> 00:32:53,650
There would be a series of paintings
499
00:32:53,650 --> 00:32:56,060
whose primary focus was the brush strokes,
500
00:32:56,060 --> 00:32:58,303
the colors, the juxtapositions,
501
00:32:59,450 --> 00:33:01,430
the sorts of things that emerge when an artist
502
00:33:01,430 --> 00:33:03,823
focuses on the physical process of painting.
503
00:33:12,453 --> 00:33:15,350
But Johns is just as interested in working with ideas
504
00:33:15,350 --> 00:33:16,653
and associations.
505
00:33:17,820 --> 00:33:20,570
In these paintings, the observer is invited
506
00:33:20,570 --> 00:33:23,170
to try to follow the artist's thought process
507
00:33:23,170 --> 00:33:25,023
and understand his intentions.
508
00:33:25,890 --> 00:33:29,940
- Sometimes, you will have an idea when you have a painting,
509
00:33:29,940 --> 00:33:33,020
whereas you had no idea before you had a painting.
510
00:33:33,020 --> 00:33:37,100
Sometimes, there's a very clear image established
511
00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:39,500
ahead of time and you simply have to execute it.
512
00:33:41,890 --> 00:33:46,890
Sometimes, you want to engage in a kind of activity
513
00:33:47,370 --> 00:33:49,670
and see what it'll produce.
514
00:33:49,670 --> 00:33:52,773
- [Narrator] Johns painted in the studio in 1982.
515
00:33:53,870 --> 00:33:57,240
- I had seen an empty canvas propped against a painting
516
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,233
in my studio.
517
00:33:59,490 --> 00:34:04,170
And that accounts for the sort of empty rectangle
518
00:34:04,170 --> 00:34:08,203
that goes in a slight perspective.
519
00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:14,380
I had some wax casts of an arm of a child,
520
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,100
a three-dimensional object in relation
521
00:34:18,100 --> 00:34:23,100
to this representation of space in the canvas.
522
00:34:26,270 --> 00:34:27,960
There's a strip of wood that comes out
523
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:29,610
from the surface of the painting.
524
00:34:31,310 --> 00:34:35,610
I was playing with that kind of thought on one level
525
00:34:35,610 --> 00:34:40,610
of real things in space and suggestion of things in space
526
00:34:44,570 --> 00:34:46,973
and the suggestion of space.
527
00:34:47,949 --> 00:34:51,250
And within it, within the studio setting,
528
00:34:51,250 --> 00:34:53,333
the representation of paintings,
529
00:34:54,710 --> 00:34:57,190
at least one of which is melting.
530
00:34:57,190 --> 00:35:01,783
So in a kind of setting where there are just a few elements,
531
00:35:02,660 --> 00:35:03,850
there was this suggestion
532
00:35:03,850 --> 00:35:05,900
that something was happening, I thought.
533
00:35:05,900 --> 00:35:09,393
- While this was going on, Jasper was cooking a fish.
534
00:35:10,430 --> 00:35:12,680
- [Narrator] Sculptor Richard Serra's first commission
535
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,550
came from Johns, who saw a piece he created
536
00:35:15,550 --> 00:35:18,190
at the Whitney Museum by splashing molten lead
537
00:35:18,190 --> 00:35:21,010
against the juncture of a wall and the floor.
538
00:35:21,010 --> 00:35:24,880
Johns invited him to do a similar work in his studio.
539
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,120
- He was also opening his mail
540
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,680
and he was also painting on a painting a target,
541
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,203
a green, purple, and orange target.
542
00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:37,180
And seeing to the daily business of his studio.
543
00:35:37,180 --> 00:35:40,050
At one point, he picked up a ladder
544
00:35:40,050 --> 00:35:43,610
and he walked to the ventilator, the window vent,
545
00:35:43,610 --> 00:35:46,680
climbed up the ladder, opened the window, climbed back down,
546
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:48,120
put the ladder under his arm,
547
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,870
and started to walk back toward the kitchen.
548
00:35:50,870 --> 00:35:54,410
I asked him how long he had been painting on the painting.
549
00:35:54,410 --> 00:35:56,287
He said, "Eight years."
550
00:35:57,420 --> 00:36:02,420
Then he came back, once again, to deposit something
551
00:36:02,950 --> 00:36:05,940
in an anteroom and I asked if he liked doing that.
552
00:36:05,940 --> 00:36:07,867
And he said, "Which part?"
553
00:36:08,836 --> 00:36:11,677
(eccentric music)
554
00:36:11,677 --> 00:36:14,157
- [Narrator] "Racing Thoughts, 1984".
555
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,640
- I had had a period of kind of anxiety, I suppose,
556
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:24,543
where I was, when I was trying to go to sleep.
557
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,610
Images and bits of images and bits of thoughts
558
00:36:31,610 --> 00:36:36,050
would run through my head without any connectedness
559
00:36:36,050 --> 00:36:37,343
that I could see.
560
00:36:38,630 --> 00:36:39,463
And
561
00:36:44,380 --> 00:36:49,030
I was having dinner with a, I think a psychologist
562
00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:55,720
that I had met, and I explained that I had been having
563
00:36:56,690 --> 00:36:59,340
this for like a week, this situation.
564
00:36:59,340 --> 00:37:03,097
And he said, "Oh, we call those racing thoughts."
565
00:37:04,634 --> 00:37:07,810
And I was very pleased that there was a name
566
00:37:07,810 --> 00:37:09,286
for my condition.
567
00:37:09,286 --> 00:37:11,953
(frantic music)
568
00:37:19,310 --> 00:37:22,060
(haunting music)
569
00:37:30,660 --> 00:37:34,570
- [Narrator] In 1985, Johns began a series of four paintings
570
00:37:34,570 --> 00:37:36,690
called "The Seasons".
571
00:37:36,690 --> 00:37:39,060
The seasons of the year combined with the seasons
572
00:37:39,060 --> 00:37:44,060
of human life, infancy, youth, maturity, and old age.
573
00:37:47,140 --> 00:37:50,357
The young Johns had said, "I don't want my work
574
00:37:50,357 --> 00:37:53,370
"to be an exposure of my feelings."
575
00:37:53,370 --> 00:37:55,670
The mature artist, looking back,
576
00:37:55,670 --> 00:37:58,993
admits eventually it seemed like a losing battle.
577
00:37:59,980 --> 00:38:02,713
Finally, one must simply drop the reserve.
578
00:38:04,650 --> 00:38:07,400
Full of the accumulation of a lifetime,
579
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,510
the strongest indication of the painting's personal nature
580
00:38:10,510 --> 00:38:13,120
is the appearance of a figure.
581
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:17,720
Ghostly, cut in two, or fading away
582
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:19,453
into the ruins of the past.
583
00:38:21,070 --> 00:38:22,450
- [Jasper] Well, they reflect a different kind of rhythm
584
00:38:22,450 --> 00:38:27,083
because they are fairly complicated in terms of imagery.
585
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:33,460
Suggesting almost a kind of natural abundance of detail.
586
00:38:35,550 --> 00:38:38,650
That they are cyclical in terms of,
587
00:38:38,650 --> 00:38:40,383
you know, in traditional terms.
588
00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:46,080
It gives them a sense of wholeness, I guess.
589
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,470
They have that to a degree that not much
590
00:38:49,470 --> 00:38:50,690
of my work has that.
591
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,490
- [Narrator] The way Johns reworks themes and images
592
00:39:09,490 --> 00:39:12,720
is much more a tradition in printmaking than in painting.
593
00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:13,920
- [Jasper] This one too.
594
00:39:15,050 --> 00:39:17,300
- [Narrator] One talks of the first state of a print,
595
00:39:17,300 --> 00:39:19,640
the second state, and so forth,
596
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,140
with the understanding that printmaking is a process
597
00:39:22,140 --> 00:39:25,480
of refining and redefining images.
598
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,230
Over the years, Johns has created hundreds
599
00:39:28,230 --> 00:39:32,610
of lithographs and etchings that explore the same subjects
600
00:39:32,610 --> 00:39:36,375
and objects as his paintings and sculpture.
601
00:39:36,375 --> 00:39:39,542
(pleasant jazz music)
602
00:39:48,780 --> 00:39:51,190
He has learned to use the unique characteristics
603
00:39:51,190 --> 00:39:53,690
of each medium to its fullest.
604
00:39:53,690 --> 00:39:56,170
Drawing or painting on a smooth limestone
605
00:39:56,170 --> 00:39:57,973
is the basis of lithography.
606
00:39:59,190 --> 00:40:02,110
The surface captures the crayon's rough texture
607
00:40:02,110 --> 00:40:05,180
and the subtle nuances of the artist's ink.
608
00:40:05,180 --> 00:40:06,760
Rich effects can be created
609
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:08,863
by printing many layers of images.
610
00:40:14,660 --> 00:40:17,210
Almost every major painting has its counterpart
611
00:40:17,210 --> 00:40:19,090
in Johns' prints.
612
00:40:19,090 --> 00:40:21,477
These are the color etchings of "The Seasons".
613
00:40:31,730 --> 00:40:35,280
Then, Johns took the plates used to print the black ink
614
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:38,000
on the color print and completely reworked
615
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,433
and rearranged them to create a new print.
616
00:41:02,150 --> 00:41:04,310
After the edition of "The Black and White Seasons"
617
00:41:04,310 --> 00:41:07,630
was printed, Johns returned to the plates again
618
00:41:07,630 --> 00:41:09,693
to rework them yet another time.
619
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,550
Three years have now passed since he began working
620
00:41:15,550 --> 00:41:17,433
on these sheets of polished copper.
621
00:41:19,310 --> 00:41:23,170
In etching, the artist uses acid to etch lines and patterns
622
00:41:23,170 --> 00:41:24,243
on a metal plate.
623
00:41:26,300 --> 00:41:29,020
It can also be a very physical process,
624
00:41:29,020 --> 00:41:31,260
sanding and scraping the metal to create
625
00:41:31,260 --> 00:41:34,060
or remove textures and images.
626
00:41:34,060 --> 00:41:37,303
Johns has even punched holes in plates with nail punches.
627
00:41:55,291 --> 00:41:58,124
(soft jazz music)
628
00:42:21,530 --> 00:42:24,907
- I like the idea of just keeping all of the marks
629
00:42:24,907 --> 00:42:28,407
so the history of everything is contained.
630
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:32,810
- [Narrator] Both etching and lithography
631
00:42:32,810 --> 00:42:35,860
are curiously old-fashioned and low-tech.
632
00:42:35,860 --> 00:42:37,730
It takes a great deal of experience
633
00:42:37,730 --> 00:42:41,140
to make the process work, so even experienced artists
634
00:42:41,140 --> 00:42:43,903
like Johns usually work with master printers.
635
00:43:37,192 --> 00:43:39,040
Although Johns works with others,
636
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:41,733
he has rarely collaborated with other artists.
637
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:47,760
In 1983, he created a set of prints and Samuel Beckett
638
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,307
provided the text for the book "Fizzles".
639
00:43:51,737 --> 00:43:55,220
"Words", one of the first prints in the series,
640
00:43:55,220 --> 00:43:57,750
mirrors the overlapping layers of the dense
641
00:43:57,750 --> 00:43:58,857
and obsessive texts.
642
00:43:58,857 --> 00:44:00,550
- [Obsessive Narrator] It was he who wailed.
643
00:44:00,550 --> 00:44:01,650
He who saw the light.
644
00:44:01,650 --> 00:44:02,670
I didn't wail.
645
00:44:02,670 --> 00:44:03,920
I didn't see the light.
646
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:05,750
It's impossible I should have a voice.
647
00:44:05,750 --> 00:44:07,450
Impossible I should have thoughts.
648
00:44:07,450 --> 00:44:08,710
And I speak and think.
649
00:44:08,710 --> 00:44:09,960
I do think it's possible.
650
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:11,080
It is not possible otherwise.
651
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:13,750
It was he who had a life, I didn't have a life.
652
00:44:13,750 --> 00:44:16,300
A life not worth having.
653
00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:18,380
Because of me, he'll do himself to death.
654
00:44:18,380 --> 00:44:20,780
Because of me, I'll tell the tale.
655
00:44:20,780 --> 00:44:21,613
The tale of his death.
656
00:44:21,613 --> 00:44:23,780
The end of his life and his death.
657
00:44:23,780 --> 00:44:25,786
His death alone will not be enough.
658
00:44:25,786 --> 00:44:26,930
It will not be enough for me.
659
00:44:26,930 --> 00:44:30,080
If he rattles, he will rattle, I won't rattle.
660
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:33,507
(disturbing music) (speaking in foreign language)
661
00:44:33,507 --> 00:44:35,489
- [Obsessive Narrator] If they find him, I'll be inside
662
00:44:35,489 --> 00:44:37,440
and he'll rot, I won't rot.
663
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,357
(speaking in foreign language)
664
00:44:42,931 --> 00:44:44,537
- [Obsessive Narrator] It's not possible otherwise
665
00:44:44,537 --> 00:44:46,537
and that's how I see it.
666
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:50,850
- There always seemed to be another content residing
667
00:44:50,850 --> 00:44:53,780
in the work and I think that's not only still apparent,
668
00:44:53,780 --> 00:44:57,260
but even more so.
669
00:44:57,260 --> 00:44:59,460
Particularly with paintings like "Perilous Night".
670
00:44:59,460 --> 00:45:04,460
I mean, it really gets into the pain beneath the surface,
671
00:45:05,100 --> 00:45:06,750
the scratching on the blackboard.
672
00:45:08,150 --> 00:45:11,230
- [Narrator] In 1943, John Cage wrote a piece of music
673
00:45:11,230 --> 00:45:13,300
called "The Perilous Night".
674
00:45:13,300 --> 00:45:18,300
- The first title for that piece came from an Irish myth.
675
00:45:20,420 --> 00:45:22,870
It's not called "The Perilous Night".
676
00:45:22,870 --> 00:45:24,787
It's called "The Perilous Bed".
677
00:45:26,030 --> 00:45:31,030
And I was at the point of divorce between Xenia Cage
678
00:45:33,450 --> 00:45:36,280
and when I wrote it.
679
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:37,387
And it was a...
680
00:45:43,070 --> 00:45:45,750
It was the dark side of the erotic.
681
00:45:51,370 --> 00:45:56,050
It presents a situation that is where the extremes
682
00:45:56,050 --> 00:46:01,050
become, well, where things work together,
683
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:03,733
that they come and go far apart.
684
00:46:05,710 --> 00:46:08,280
- [Narrator] In the legend, the Perilous Bed rested
685
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:10,927
on a floor of polished jasper.
686
00:46:10,927 --> 00:46:14,177
(haunting piano music)
687
00:48:23,530 --> 00:48:24,363
(gavel banging)
688
00:48:24,363 --> 00:48:25,430
- [Announcer] If I could have your attention,
689
00:48:25,430 --> 00:48:26,880
ladies and gentlemen, please.
690
00:48:28,460 --> 00:48:32,410
Before I begin, I must read the customary announcements.
691
00:48:32,410 --> 00:48:33,660
Bidders are reminded that the--
692
00:48:33,660 --> 00:48:36,400
- [Narrator] Johns' art is immensely valuable.
693
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:37,900
There is a list of people waiting
694
00:48:37,900 --> 00:48:40,400
to buy anything with his name on it.
695
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:43,170
Since early in his career, his art has sold
696
00:48:43,170 --> 00:48:45,883
for prices that have broken record after record.
697
00:48:47,440 --> 00:48:52,440
In 1988, "Diver" sold for $4.1 million at auction,
698
00:48:53,190 --> 00:48:56,637
setting a new record for the work of a living artist.
699
00:48:56,637 --> 00:48:57,593
- [Announcer] $3 million.
700
00:48:57,593 --> 00:48:59,160
3,200,000.
701
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:02,200
- [Narrator] That record stood until November of 1988
702
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,310
when Christie's auctioned "White Flag",
703
00:49:04,310 --> 00:49:07,660
a painting that originally sold for $2,000.
704
00:49:07,660 --> 00:49:08,493
- 4,200,000.
705
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:11,510
4,500,000.
706
00:49:11,510 --> 00:49:13,686
4,800,000,
707
00:49:13,686 --> 00:49:15,324
4,800,000.
708
00:49:15,324 --> 00:49:16,659
$5 million.
709
00:49:16,659 --> 00:49:18,779
5,200,000.
710
00:49:18,779 --> 00:49:21,394
5,500,000.
711
00:49:21,394 --> 00:49:22,227
5,800,000.
712
00:49:23,598 --> 00:49:27,460
Bid is decide at $5,800,000 against you left.
713
00:49:27,460 --> 00:49:29,813
At five, $6 million on the telephone.
714
00:49:33,488 --> 00:49:34,710
Six million.
715
00:49:34,710 --> 00:49:36,390
What's that two, one.
716
00:49:36,390 --> 00:49:37,420
All right, six million one.
717
00:49:37,420 --> 00:49:38,470
Ahead of your bidder.
718
00:49:39,990 --> 00:49:41,023
I'll take six two.
719
00:49:45,140 --> 00:49:47,810
Six million one is against you in the room
720
00:49:47,810 --> 00:49:48,960
and against the gallery too.
721
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,520
Six million, 100, 6,200,000 on the telephone.
722
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:55,043
Three, $6,300,000 in the room.
723
00:49:55,897 --> 00:49:58,183
$6,300,000.
724
00:49:59,770 --> 00:50:02,333
Four, 6,400,000 on the telephone.
725
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:05,645
One more, sir?
726
00:50:05,645 --> 00:50:06,478
Maybe not.
727
00:50:06,478 --> 00:50:11,478
$6,400,000 on the telephone and against your bid
728
00:50:11,670 --> 00:50:14,880
and against the room at $6,400,000.
729
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:16,743
The telephone bidder against you all in here.
730
00:50:16,743 --> 00:50:19,400
Fair warning at $6,400,000.
731
00:50:20,249 --> 00:50:21,082
(gavel bangs) Telephone bidder.
732
00:50:21,082 --> 00:50:21,915
Six million, four.
733
00:50:23,390 --> 00:50:25,050
- [Narrator] The 10% auction commission
734
00:50:25,050 --> 00:50:26,310
brought the price of the painting
735
00:50:26,310 --> 00:50:28,013
to a little over $7 million.
736
00:50:29,730 --> 00:50:32,630
That record only lasted one day.
737
00:50:32,630 --> 00:50:35,940
The following day this painting, "False Start",
738
00:50:35,940 --> 00:50:40,283
sold for $17 million at another auction at Sotheby's.
739
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:45,660
- I don't think I fully understand it, the process.
740
00:50:45,660 --> 00:50:47,783
When it begins,
741
00:50:55,210 --> 00:51:00,210
you're pleased that you can make something and sell it.
742
00:51:04,770 --> 00:51:08,030
It allows you to devote yourself to the work
743
00:51:08,030 --> 00:51:09,083
that you want to do.
744
00:51:10,660 --> 00:51:15,660
As it expands, and the value of the work increases,
745
00:51:16,550 --> 00:51:20,290
at a certain point you see that the society takes over
746
00:51:20,290 --> 00:51:23,708
in the determination of the value of the work
747
00:51:23,708 --> 00:51:25,900
and the meaning of the work.
748
00:51:25,900 --> 00:51:29,870
- Scarcity is also something that's very important.
749
00:51:29,870 --> 00:51:32,390
There are not many Jasper Johnses around.
750
00:51:32,390 --> 00:51:35,670
So competition always among collectors
751
00:51:35,670 --> 00:51:36,820
plays an important role.
752
00:51:36,820 --> 00:51:41,620
- Art has taken the place of precious metals in the economy.
753
00:51:41,620 --> 00:51:46,620
And it has never done that to the degree that it has today.
754
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:50,910
And so you have this extremely distorted point of view.
755
00:51:50,910 --> 00:51:52,700
People are really, they are not talking about art.
756
00:51:52,700 --> 00:51:54,150
They are talking about money.
757
00:51:54,150 --> 00:51:56,720
So to think that they're talking about art is,
758
00:51:56,720 --> 00:51:59,915
I think, the first misconception.
759
00:51:59,915 --> 00:52:01,721
- [Announcer] $900,000.
760
00:52:01,721 --> 00:52:02,840
Fair warning.
761
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:04,909
Sold for $900,000. (gavel bangs)
762
00:52:04,909 --> 00:52:06,576
You again, sir, 900.
763
00:52:08,247 --> 00:52:09,870
- If you look at it, it just looks like a bunch of marks
764
00:52:09,870 --> 00:52:11,090
all over the place.
765
00:52:11,090 --> 00:52:14,220
But Jasper Johns actually did this very carefully
766
00:52:14,220 --> 00:52:16,460
with a lot of planning.
767
00:52:16,460 --> 00:52:19,580
- If you see something and it intrigues you in any way,
768
00:52:19,580 --> 00:52:21,350
even to the point of horrible irritation,
769
00:52:21,350 --> 00:52:23,347
go back and look at it again.
770
00:52:23,347 --> 00:52:24,430
(chuckles)
771
00:52:24,430 --> 00:52:26,160
Don't worry about being educated.
772
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:28,130
I think that most of the time gets in the way,
773
00:52:28,130 --> 00:52:29,340
from my point of view.
774
00:52:29,340 --> 00:52:32,680
- I personally think that his work can be fully appreciated
775
00:52:32,680 --> 00:52:34,860
without knowing what the hell it's about at all,
776
00:52:34,860 --> 00:52:36,580
because it's incredibly good painting.
777
00:52:36,580 --> 00:52:39,290
- Faucet. - There's the cast on the arm.
778
00:52:40,842 --> 00:52:43,000
- I'm really impressed.
779
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:44,163
I like these a lot.
780
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:48,170
- 'Cause it makes you like imagine stuff.
781
00:52:48,170 --> 00:52:51,130
You could see stuff within paintings.
782
00:52:51,130 --> 00:52:53,840
- I mean, I didn't wanna know too much about the ideas
783
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:57,687
because I didn't think I would be that interested in them.
784
00:52:57,687 --> 00:53:01,300
But I love the paintings and there was something about them.
785
00:53:01,300 --> 00:53:02,980
- Well, I think they're really interesting
786
00:53:02,980 --> 00:53:05,460
because he takes all different things and puts them together
787
00:53:05,460 --> 00:53:07,440
into one big picture.
788
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:10,430
- I think he paints as well as he ever painted.
789
00:53:10,430 --> 00:53:12,353
He has that beautiful touch.
790
00:53:13,460 --> 00:53:16,130
But while he has not forgotten how to paint,
791
00:53:16,130 --> 00:53:19,080
in some way he seems to me to have forgotten what to paint.
792
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,230
- I like the way he uses the color
793
00:53:25,230 --> 00:53:26,973
and sort of flashes it together.
794
00:53:29,650 --> 00:53:31,110
- I like the four seasons the best
795
00:53:31,110 --> 00:53:35,250
because he shows like his lifetime and how he goes
796
00:53:35,250 --> 00:53:38,440
and gets older and how he dies.
797
00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:41,840
- I mean, I think Jasper's a fairly conventional person.
798
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,570
And sort of a conventional artist
799
00:53:45,570 --> 00:53:47,693
in the best sense of the word.
800
00:53:51,098 --> 00:53:52,959
Art is about conventions, I guess, in a way,
801
00:53:52,959 --> 00:53:55,961
and then trying to make, expand the conventions
802
00:53:55,961 --> 00:54:00,961
so that they're expressive and that's what he does the best.
803
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:12,180
- [Jasper] To the degree that I have been influenced
804
00:54:12,180 --> 00:54:17,180
or moved by other people's work, I probably have an idea
805
00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:21,320
that perhaps someone might have that kind of use
806
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:22,333
for my pictures.
807
00:54:33,909 --> 00:54:36,742
(eccentric music)
808
00:54:44,070 --> 00:54:46,060
- [John] The question of what is entity splitting
809
00:54:46,060 --> 00:54:48,390
on the psychological level.
810
00:54:48,390 --> 00:54:51,339
But also the question of what is the part.
811
00:54:51,339 --> 00:54:53,480
And what the question of what is the part.
812
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:57,360
And what is a what is a whole is a very ordinary,
813
00:54:57,360 --> 00:54:58,483
infantile level.
814
00:54:59,370 --> 00:55:00,840
Yes, level.
815
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:03,910
But also in ordinary objective space
816
00:55:03,910 --> 00:55:07,539
is a very interesting problem on the the question
817
00:55:07,539 --> 00:55:10,270
of what is a question of what is a part.
818
00:55:10,270 --> 00:55:13,820
A very part and what is the whole is a very interesting,
819
00:55:13,820 --> 00:55:17,923
a very interesting problem on the psychological level,
820
00:55:17,923 --> 00:55:19,943
but also, but also an ordinary is.
64648
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