Art Exhibition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art Exhibition - Essay Example According to Lanchner and Johns (2009), the two words that Johns uses to describe this work are readymade, referring to the map, and unexpected. Michael Criton located Johns â€Å"between Duchamp and Pollack, between the found object and the created abstraction† (Lanchner and Johns, 2009, p. 19). The second work of art is a collection of prints by Johns in which the numbers 0-9 have been created through the methodology of lithography. Lithography is a process where a smooth surface is treated in some areas so that it will retain ink, but leaving others so that the ink will not be retained. The surface is then used as a printing object from which to press an image onto another surface, most often a paper. The works were created between 1960 and 1963 and are simply titled â€Å"0-9†. The two pieces can be compared from a number of elemental concepts in order to further explore the nature of Jasper John’s work. The painting â€Å"Map† was created in the earli er part of his career when the exploration of the ideologies of America were being combined with the explorations of their meanings through the use of ‘readymade’ objects. The blurring of borders speaks of unity while the bursts of color are in motion, commenting on the wide diversity of the nation. The lines of the distinct object of the map are muddled by the use of the paint overtop of them. The colors are vibrant and primary, using red, yellow, and blue in bursts across the work, the colors blending at some points, distinctive at others. The oil paints are thick with the texture of the work dense and mountainous on top of the map. There is a repetition that creates balance within the chaos and while there is no use of perspective, there is a sense of density that is felt that about the object of the map as the colors burst forth across the entirety of the work. Although there seems to be no design to the work, there is a definite balance to the way in which the colo rs are utilized. They erupt across the painting in light and darkness, yellow splicing through the red and darker blue to provide movement and to justify the transitions. The proportion of the work is large, conveying the immensity of the message that it holds about the concept of the nation, its diversity and its uniformity. The feeling of the painting is electric as the viewer is engaged with the use of color throughout the work. The piece also pulls the viewer in to a contemplation of the idea of America. The work is abstract, even though it utilizes a readymade object in order to create a foundation. The work conveys its meaning as a message rather than a narrative, the expressive use of color defining the parameters in which the viewer is to understand something of the intention. Because of its theme and the rising sense of social revolution that was felt during the late 1950s, it is likely that as the new decade blossomed before Johns he had the inspiration to create a discour se on the nature of the American ideology in context with the movements towards change that was beginning to erupt all around him. The collection or portfolio of ten numbers is presented in two rows of four with the two remaining on the third row. The work is created through the technique of lithography and is therefore smudged representations of the original plates from which they were printed. In viewing the piece as a whole, it is clear that the papers and