The Matthew Marks Gallery is currently featuring works by Jasper Johns in the exhibition Jasper Johns: New Sculpture and Works on Paper. The exhibition features nine sculptures completed over the past five years which represent the largest body of work Johns has completed over the course of his career spanning beyond 50 years.
The theme of many of the sculptures are with one exception, is Johns’ classic design of numbers. Johns starts out by creating the sculptures in wax first, then he creates a unique pattern of textures on the surfaces as well as including collaged elements. Johns finally casts these textures in bronze, aluminum, or silver before applying different patinas to each.
Fragment of a Letter, is a double sided piece that incorporates part of a letter from Vincent van Gogh to his friend and artist Émile Bernard. Using blocks of type, Johns pressed the letters of Van Gogh’s words into the wax. On the other side he spelled out the entire letter in the American Sign Language alphabet with stamps he made himself and he signed his name in the wax in sign language using his hands. In addition to the sculptures, the exhibition also includes 20 of Johns’ recent works on paper. At the Matthew Marks Gallery (522 W. 22nd St.) through July 1. The gallery is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
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