Jasper Johns

Common symbols reinterpreted Though his work is often categorized as Pop Art for its use of popular iconography and household objects, Jasper Johns can also be described as a Neo-Dadaist. Using wax-based paint, plaster relief, collage, and even commonplace objects such as brooms and rulers in his paintings, Johns achieves a sculptural texture in his work. He is arguably most known for his flag paintings of the 1950s (the Museum of Modern Art in New York recently paid over $20 million for White Flag), though other themes, including targets, numbers, letters, and maps, are also famously recurrent. Johns is widely considered one of the most important American artists of the 20th century. About the Series: Every book in TASCHEN"s Basic Art Series features: * a detailed chronological summary of the artist"s life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist * approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions * a concise biography About the author: Barbara Hess (b. 1964) is an art historian, critic and translator, resident in Cologne. Her numerous articles on contemporary art have featured in Camera Austria, Flash Art, Kunst-Bulletin and Texte zur Kunst. She co-curated the touring exhibition Ready to Shoot: Fernsehgalerie Gerry Schum/videogalerie schum at the Kunsthalle Du"sseldorf and the Muse"e d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Her TASCHEN titles include a monograph on Willem de Kooning.