Jasper Johns is an internationally renowned artist whose work stands as an important bridge between abstract expressionism, pop and minimal art. Printmaking has long been an important part of the artist's practice, and he has employed both lithography and etching over the course of his career. Subjects of Johns' printmaking work are varied, ranging from the seasons, creative reinterpretations of Holbein, and curious faces and features combined with everyday objects.

BIO:

Jasper Johns, born in 1930, moved to New York in 1949 and began paintings influenced by abstract expressionism. After the artist was introduced to Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham in the mid 1950s, his work changed radically.

Johns' first solo exhibition took place at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1958. This showing led directly to the artist's inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art's landmark 16 Americans in New York City the following year.

Solo exhibitions of Johns' paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture have been organized by: the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (1977); the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (1990); and MoMA in New York City (1986, 1996).

Johns first worked with ULAE in 1960. Initially, lithography suited the artist and enabled him to create print versions of iconic depictions of flags, maps and targets that filled his paintings, such as Target (1960). In 1967, Johns expanded his repertoire to etching and created Target I and Light Bulb. In 1971, Johns became the first artist at ULAE to use the handfed offset lithographic press, resulting in Decoy—an image realized in printmaking before it was made in drawing or painting. Since then, Johns has become a master of both media.