Guerra 1 - California State University, Sacramento

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<strong>Guerra</strong> 4 about art. Johns remarked, “‘Our world was very limited. I think we were very dependent on one another. There was that business of triggering energies, other people fed into that, but it was basically a two way operation.’” 13 Together they started a new life, a separate circle in which, as Rauschenberg put it, “‘Jasper and I used to start each day by [moving] out from Abstract Expressionism.’” 14 The methods in which both artists moved out from Abstract Expressionism were deeply entwined. Rauschenberg’s ideas about the role of the artist were obvious. “‘I don’t want my personality to come out through the pieces,’” he said. “‘That’s why I keep the TV on all the time….And I keep the windows open. I want my paintings to be reflections of life,’” whereas Johns had said, “‘In my early work I tried to hide my personality, my psychological state, my emotions. This was partly to do with feelings about painting at the time.’” 15 These “feelings” had everything to do with the unique situation these two artists had found themselves in. Much of Rauschenberg’s earlier work reflected the painterly drips and gestural strokes of the Abstract Expressionists’ individualism. 1) Robert Rauschenberg, White Painting [seven panel], 1951. Oil on canvas, 72 x 125 x 1 1/2 inches. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York. However, in the early 1950s, he began to employ media that showed “a restless, reactive, inventive, and autonomous personality.” 16 He began to explore the possibility that art was not always about the individual feelings of the painter, but about what the viewer might bring to the piece. His series 13 Katz in Chadwick, 200. 14 Ibid., 197. 15 Johnston, 136. 16 Johnston., 134.
2) Jasper Johns. Target with Plaster Casts, 1955. Encaustic and collage on canvas with objects. 129.5 x 111.8 cm (51 x 44 in) Collection Mr. and Mrs. Leo Castelli. <strong>Guerra</strong> 5 White Paintings (1951) [Figure 1], which consisted of seven white canvases painted flat white (no gestural strokes, no texture), was indicative of these feelings of silence of the artist, a reaction to the Abstract Expressionist movement, and the beginning of the idea he would explore most with Jasper Johns through the use of culturally familiar imagery in order to involve the viewer. Johns’ work explored this idea of silence as well. Beginning with his solemn, “silent” works such as Target with Plaster Casts (1955) [Figure 2], Johns presents work that is laboriously works, essentially, are about silence. manifested in encaustic, a temperamental mix of pigment suspended in beeswax. The composition consists of fragmented pieces of a plaster-cast male body enclosed in compartments above an encaustic target. Johns describes the painting in a sketchbook as “an object that tells of the loss, destructions, disappearance of objects. Does not speak of itself. Tells of others.” 17 This passage sums up the essence of the work perfectly. Target is in opposition to the idea of personal revelation through painting, and in the same spirit as Rauschenberg’s White Paintings. Both On top of this reaction to the soul-bearing individualism of Abstract Expressionism, both Rauschenberg and Johns move into a humorous parody of Abstract Expressionist style. Together they explored methods of creating seemingly original, expressionist works in styles that make the 17 Jasper Johns [undated sketchbook] published in Jasper Johns, Ed. Alan R. Solomon, Jewish Museum, New York, 1964.
Page 1 and 2: Guerra 1 "Rauschenberg was the man
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Page 7 and 8: 5) Robert Rauschenberg. Bed. 1955.
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Page 13: Saltz, Jerry. "Our Picasso?" Villag

Guerra 1 - California State University, Sacramento

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