American painter and printmaker Jasper Johns (b.1930) was born in Georgia and attended the University of South Carolina before moving to New York City when he was in his 20s. In New York, he met artist Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008), choreographer Merce Cunningham, and composer John Cage, all of whom profoundly influenced one another. In 1958, Johns entered the public eye when dealer Leo Castelli visited Rauschenberg’s adjacent studio; Johns was awarded a show at Castelli’s gallery, which then lead to his first sale at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Famous for his paintings of flags, targets, maps, and numbers, Johns painted seemingly mundane symbols in a variety of media, such as oil, encaustic, ink, pencil, collage, and relief, instilling new meaning and power into everyday, recognizable images. Though Johns is sometimes labeled Neo-Dada or the father of Pop Art, his work displays a deep concern with questions of representation and the nature of mark-making within art. His style is lush and painterly, and he often incorporates nontraditional media in his works, such as wax-based paint and plaster relief. His works play with presented opposites, contradictions, paradoxes, and irony. Johns also produces intaglio prints, sculptures and lithographs with similar subject themes.

Selected Public Collections:
The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)
Musee d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain Nice (Nice, France)