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拍品专文
Beginning in 2007, Jasper Johns embarked on a series of new sculptures that reprised the iconography of his famous body of work known as the 0-9 paintings. In the present example, each numeral from zero to nine has been arranged within an orderly grid and cast in bronze. Johns then elevates this particular example by including a cast of the foot of the dancer and choreography Merce Cunningham, one of the artist’s oldest and dearest friends. The result is a highly personal work, one that reminds us of art’s continued presence, and where the empirical precision of the number sequence is imparted with the warmth of the human hand and the tactile quality of the materials themselves.
Along with his depictions of flags and targets, Johns’s use of numbers has become an iconic and long-running motif which he has explored in a variety of media. The grid format in the present work can be traced back to the painting Zero to Nine (1958-59, Ludwig Museum, Cologne), which features bold colors and a lively surface of collaged elements, with the numbers arranged in a similar 2 x 5 grid. The other direct precedent—which also incorporates a depiction of Merce Cunningham’s footprint—is still welcoming visitors to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center today. This large-scale painting also features numbers that are arranged in a grid, but is executed in the soft metallic material known as Sculp-metal. Johns later joked that, “At the time, I thought it an amusing idea to get Merce's foot into Lincoln Center (J. Johns, quoted in T. Winters, “Jasper Johns in the Studio: A Conversation with Terry Winters,” Jasper Johns: New Sculpture and Works on Paper, exh. cat., Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2011, p. 144).”
In 0-9 (with Merce’s Footprint), Johns interrogates the formal purity of the numerical forms he uses as his subject matter and the hardness of the final bronze work, by using wax as an intermediary medium. This process results in a surface that is alive with a variety of contrasting colors and textures, some of which are at odds with the very nature of the impenetrable bronze material, like the soft drips that can be seen alongside the number eight. Most of the numbers have been executed in a fairly shallow relief, with some of them incised more deeply into the surface, creating a rich variation within the bronze color that becomes evident as the viewer comes into closer contact with the work. In several instances, Johns has impressed text directly into the surface, and he includes the word “Classified” at least twice. The discovery of Cunningham's footprint is exciting and extraordinary. It mimics the curvature of numbers but is inherently opposite to them. This human presence reminds us of the role of the artist-maker, of the fallibility of the human body, and of the long tradition of artmaking going back even to the first handprints and footprints in the neolithic caves.
Johns first met Cunningham in the 1950s, and—along with Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage—became involved in his many performances. Between 1967 and 1980, Johns acted as artistic advisor to Cuningham’s dance company, and famously designed scenery and costumes for several important performances. The most famous of these is probably RainForest (1960), whose set design featured Andy Warhol’s silver helium-filled pillows and costumes that Johns slashed with a razor blade. Cunningham was widely considered to be one of the most important choreographers of all time. His approach to dance was radical in its innovation and embrace of chance. "Merce is my favorite artist in any field,” Johns told Newsweek in 1968. “Nothing Merce does is simple. Everything has a fascinating richness and multiplicity of direction” (J. Johns, quoted in A. Macaulay, “Cunningham and Johns: Rare Glimpses into a Collaboration, New York Times, January 7, 2013, online).
Jasper Johns once laid out his working philosophy by saying “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it” (J. Johns, “Sketchbook Notes,” Art and Literature 4, Spring 1965, p. 192), and this concept has allowed the artist to continually re-engage with many of his most important and longest running motifs. 0-9 (with Merce's Footprint) both celebrates earlier themes but also takes them in new directions. The addition of Merce’s footprint adds a sense of warmth and tenderness to the otherwise empirical quality of the numbers. For this new project, Johns decided to cast a new version of Merce’s foot, rather than rely on the earlier version made in 1964. The present work is therefore a beautiful and poetic tribute to his dear friend that embodies many of his most enduring themes.
Along with his depictions of flags and targets, Johns’s use of numbers has become an iconic and long-running motif which he has explored in a variety of media. The grid format in the present work can be traced back to the painting Zero to Nine (1958-59, Ludwig Museum, Cologne), which features bold colors and a lively surface of collaged elements, with the numbers arranged in a similar 2 x 5 grid. The other direct precedent—which also incorporates a depiction of Merce Cunningham’s footprint—is still welcoming visitors to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center today. This large-scale painting also features numbers that are arranged in a grid, but is executed in the soft metallic material known as Sculp-metal. Johns later joked that, “At the time, I thought it an amusing idea to get Merce's foot into Lincoln Center (J. Johns, quoted in T. Winters, “Jasper Johns in the Studio: A Conversation with Terry Winters,” Jasper Johns: New Sculpture and Works on Paper, exh. cat., Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2011, p. 144).”
In 0-9 (with Merce’s Footprint), Johns interrogates the formal purity of the numerical forms he uses as his subject matter and the hardness of the final bronze work, by using wax as an intermediary medium. This process results in a surface that is alive with a variety of contrasting colors and textures, some of which are at odds with the very nature of the impenetrable bronze material, like the soft drips that can be seen alongside the number eight. Most of the numbers have been executed in a fairly shallow relief, with some of them incised more deeply into the surface, creating a rich variation within the bronze color that becomes evident as the viewer comes into closer contact with the work. In several instances, Johns has impressed text directly into the surface, and he includes the word “Classified” at least twice. The discovery of Cunningham's footprint is exciting and extraordinary. It mimics the curvature of numbers but is inherently opposite to them. This human presence reminds us of the role of the artist-maker, of the fallibility of the human body, and of the long tradition of artmaking going back even to the first handprints and footprints in the neolithic caves.
Johns first met Cunningham in the 1950s, and—along with Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage—became involved in his many performances. Between 1967 and 1980, Johns acted as artistic advisor to Cuningham’s dance company, and famously designed scenery and costumes for several important performances. The most famous of these is probably RainForest (1960), whose set design featured Andy Warhol’s silver helium-filled pillows and costumes that Johns slashed with a razor blade. Cunningham was widely considered to be one of the most important choreographers of all time. His approach to dance was radical in its innovation and embrace of chance. "Merce is my favorite artist in any field,” Johns told Newsweek in 1968. “Nothing Merce does is simple. Everything has a fascinating richness and multiplicity of direction” (J. Johns, quoted in A. Macaulay, “Cunningham and Johns: Rare Glimpses into a Collaboration, New York Times, January 7, 2013, online).
Jasper Johns once laid out his working philosophy by saying “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it” (J. Johns, “Sketchbook Notes,” Art and Literature 4, Spring 1965, p. 192), and this concept has allowed the artist to continually re-engage with many of his most important and longest running motifs. 0-9 (with Merce's Footprint) both celebrates earlier themes but also takes them in new directions. The addition of Merce’s footprint adds a sense of warmth and tenderness to the otherwise empirical quality of the numbers. For this new project, Johns decided to cast a new version of Merce’s foot, rather than rely on the earlier version made in 1964. The present work is therefore a beautiful and poetic tribute to his dear friend that embodies many of his most enduring themes.