Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johnsis an American painter and printmaker...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPop Artist
Date of Birth15 May 1930
CityAugusta, GA
CountryUnited States of America
change mind sometime
Sometime during the mid-50s I said, 'I am an artist.' Before that, for many years, I had said, 'I'm going to be an artist.' Then I went through a change of mind and a change of heart. What made 'going to be an artist' into 'being an artist', was, in part, a spiritual change.
art aware interest local minor museum paintings raised south
I was raised in South Carolina; I wasn't aware of any art in South Carolina. There was a minor museum in Charleston, which had nothing of interest in it. It showed local artists, paintings of birds.
certain experience indication kinds life vivid work
My experience of life is that it's very fragmented; certain kinds of things happen, and in another place, a different kind of thing occurs. I would like my work to have some vivid indication of those differences.
Do something, do something to that, and then do something to that.
course interpret picture work
Everyone is of course free to interpret the work in his own way. I think seeing a picture is one thing and interpreting it is another.
knew none somewhere
The only logical thing I can think of is that I knew there were such things as artists, and I knew there were none where I lived. So I knew that to be an artist you had to be somewhere else. And I very much wanted to be somewhere else.
drawing love-drawings enjoyed
I love drawings, so I've always enjoyed making drawings that exist on their own.