The means of representing has completely changed after Jasper Johns.
Before that, expressing an artist's internal world
was significant.
However Johns made a new stream of removing oneself;
An artist perfectly eliminates him/herself from a canvas.
This is the shift from the subjective practice
to the objective practice.
As a result, the pop art was born.
Masato Yamaguchi, a contemporary artist.
Today's topic is about Jasper Johns.
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So, today's topic is Jasper Johns.
Actually, this is the third take.
I introduced Andy Warhol, André Breton,
Marcel Duchamp, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami so far.
In our former videos, I was just speaking extemporary.
However this time, it couldn't go smoothly.
I read 2 books.
Mr.Yoshiaki Touno's "Jasper Johns",
Mr.Richard Francis's one in Mr.Tono's translation.
Today's discussion is based on these books.
Of course, I respect Jasper Johns very much.
It was around 2012 when I saw his works for the first time.
I was almost crying.
However giving an explanation is very difficult.
So, let's start the discussion with this note.
The Biggest Wall on the Comprehension of The Modern Art: Jasper Johns
To explain this point is to understand what is the modern art.
This is this study of purpose.
First, let's look at Johns's works.
The period is divided into three phases; The early phase, the middle phase, and the last phase.
Especially, the works of early days are very famous.
For example "Target", literally a target of archery.
"Flag",
a representation of the US's "Star-Spangled Banner".
And Arabic numbers.
These pictures' motifs are symbols.
The major art motifs before Johns were
scenery, people, still lifes,
and images in an artist's mind.
On the other hand Johns directly adopts symbols.
According to Mr.Touno,
"Jasper Johns, as a Duchamp who kept painting".
Thus he is described.
"a Duchamp who kept painting"
meaning Duchamp's work is not "retinal", or visual art.
It denies something captured by eyes.
In Duchamp's opinion, for example the internal image which Surrealists depicted
is just a representation of visible things.
The "art" he meant is not "visual"
but "conceptual".
Duchamp claimed that the visual art is meaningless.
Therefor he developed the style "Ready-Made"
One of his famous practice "The Fountain",
is a new method of utilizing of something already exist.
Now let's return to the explanation "a Duchamp who kept painting".
It seems Johns's works are visual arts.
For example "Flag", it requires some very simple words to explain;
"Painted the Stars and Stripes"
Of course, the paint is visible,
however it only proves the fact that it actually exists.
The artist's labor behind the canvas is not important.
That's Johns's works.
To explain the change of art after Jasper Johns is
to explain the reason why the western modern art is very difficult to understand for Japanese.
The base of the modern art has shifted
from the subjective art to the objective art.
Japanese modern art could not pursue the shifting.
For example Taro Okamoto said
“Art is an explosion!”
which means art is to represent his internal images.
In other words, Japanese modern art represents an artist's personal world.
It's a fetish practice.
However in the Western modern art, it went towards the self-denying,
loosing his/her subjective view,
and a complete removing of personality.
That movement is based on Duchamp's practice,
and Jasper Johns became the base in the US.
With following Johns, Andy Warhol,
Jeff Koons,
Roy Lichtenstein,
and other major artists in the US of the 20th century
have practiced objective expressions.
Let's look at Johns's English Wikipedia page.
When Johns was young,
The main stream in the US was the Abstract Expressionism
represented by Jackson Pollock's "Action Painting",
a style with splushing paints
and Willem de Kooning.
However, these practices just following the concept of Surrealism in Paris
including Picasso's Cubism which was the majority in the early 20th.
The concept merely changed.
Representing an artist's personal world was popular in Paris,
and Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning did that type of practice
until something purely American was born.
Target" has a totally different concept.
It's just a paint of an object itself.
As explained earlier, Jeff Koons's works are practice of self-denying.
There is no "himself" on his art works.
His style is a representation of something already made.
And the start point is Jasper Johns.
Through reading these books, I noticed that fact.
Next, we are going to look at Jasper Johns's biography.
Born in Georgia, the US, 1930.
Now 89.
He had an exhibition in Japan in the last year.
In 1952, during the Korean War, when he was 22,
he visited Sendai pref.
He has a closer relationship between Japan.
In 54, he met Robert Rauschenberg.
Later, their activity is called "Neo-Dada"
Actually, Johns and Rauschenberg were lovers,
and lived in the same building.
In 58, an art dealer Leo Castelli visited them
to be surprised at Johns's work.
10 months later, in 59, he had an independent exhibition.
Until that moment, he already produced some of his art works which later became his masterpieces
for example that famous symbolic paints "Flag" and "Numbers".
He became a star in the art world in a single day.
In other words, in his twenties,
he had already done what he was meant to do.
After that, his practice became more Dadaism-like ones.
In my opinion,
these very works from his twenties are his masterpieces
because they constructed the base of the US's art.
Mr.Touno's book includes an interview with Johns.
Let me cite some impressive parts from the book.
Jasper Johns developed two types of styles.
One is his renowned works with symbols,
the origin of the pop art.
The other is a collage-like work,
which is similar to the Dadaism in Paris in the 20th century.
For example this is a Dadaist work in Paris.
And Johns also made some Dadaist works.
This practice is called "Neo-Dada".
Jasper Johns had two aspects;
Pop art and Neo-Dada.
Today we are focusing on his pop art.
Let me say this is his greatest part.
"Picasso won his fame with the modern art until the beginning of the 20th century."
"On the other hand Duchamp had his throne on the base of the modern art after the WW2."
"He released the art from the chain of retinas,"
"and withdrew the essence of an unseen part".
I have read an interview of Duchamp before.
And in the interview between Mr.Touno,
Johns's manner evokes something similar to Duchamp's.
For example, with his respect, when Mr.Touno asked the aim of Johns's works,
he evades the question.
Even when Mr.Touno praises his art works,
Johns's reply is empty.
So, we can't get a clear explanation.
It makes me confused.
When Mr. Touno praised that Johns's paint is beautiful,
and asked about his aesthetics, he replied thus;
"I cannot think seriously whether it's beautiful or not."
"I use the clearest, the simplest, and the most flexible method. "
"I do  something necessary."
"I neither twisted something on purpose to gather attentions, "
"nor polished something to offer a pleasant feeling."
He didn't make an art work beautiful.
Whether it's beautiful or not is depends on a watcher,
not depends on the artist's purpose.
Well, this is actually very difficult for me to explain.
This is book is very interesting for a fan of Jasper Johns,
however with only reading through this book,
catching the core to make a clear explanation
about the philosophy of his works is very difficult.
Nevertheless the author made a big effort,
Jasper Johns did not give a concrete answer.
Therefore, I can't give an opinion.
Jasper Johns's practice
which gave an impact to the history of the art in post- 20th century
is an answer to Duchamp's question.
This is why he is a great artist.
And even today, many artists follow him.
An example is Damien Hirst's spot paintings.
He gave a different colors to each chemical symbol.
His style of organizing many colored dots
is based on Johns's idea.
A Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei
paints "Coca・Cola" on a vase of the Hans dynasty.
It is also influenced by Johns's practices with symbols.
It's literally "a vase with Coca・Cola logo".
Yes, it's visible and physically exist.
However the theme lies behind the work is invisible.
and the same approach what Johns used is done.
Jasper Johns's style is pursued by many artists.
As a result, it makes a great wall
upon the understanding of the modern art.
However beyond the wall awaits the true comprehension.
Well, many likely to give up at this point
because people in Japanese art world
tend to consider that art is a subjective thing.
This concept makes a large gap
between Japanese modern art and
the main stream of the Western art after Jasper Johns.
Actually, this is the third take.
I couldn't give a deeper analysis after all.
I also feel I can't fully explain.
It's perhaps because Johns's practice is quite simple.
It's the shift from the subjective art to the objective art.
Look at this, my note is still empty.
Taking a long time to explain is useless, I guess.
The conclusion is here.
It seems that an explanation for 20 mins is not necessary.
I am going to insert a digest part in the beginning of the video,
but you can skip it-the essence is concluded in these two lines.
To summarize,
for Japanese, the Western modern art is difficult to understand because
The means of representing has completely changed
after Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns.
Before that, an art work is an expression of an artist's internal world.
After Johns, removing artist him/herself is the major theory.
An artist perfectly eliminates him/herself from a canvas.
This is the shift from the subjective practice
to the objective practice.
As a result, the pop art was born.
And the stubborn consciousness
which can't agree or accept the shifting
becomes a barrier on the understanding.
In addition
the reason which makes something difficult to explain is,
because Jasper Johns's practice seems complicated at first,
however it's quite simple.
Reading the whole book is not necessary.
Just only one simplest line can fully explain.
The whole discussion about Jasper johns's works is concluded in this line.
Giving a complex explanation rather makes it so difficult to understand.
The essence is here;
the shift from the subjective art to the objective art.
I respect Jasper Johns very much.
Therefore I hope I could give a clear explanation,
but failed.
Perhaps I can't say I did my best,
however I hope the studying of Jasper Johns
becomes a little help for you.
Now I'd like to leave this topic for a while.
Thank you for watching this video.
The next might be Roy Lichtenstein,
Banksy, or KAWS.
Through studying,
something which had not a full understanding before
is getting clearer and clearer.
In this point, this series on YouTube is not only for you
but also for me.
I appreciate you kindly support me
while I sometimes make mistakes.
This video was brought by Masato Yamaguchi, a contemporary artist.
Thank you for watching and please subscribe if you like.
