Jasper Johns: Light Bulb
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Jasper Johns: Light Bulb Details
The underlying subject matter of Jasper Johns' work is not the object represented, but the investigation of how we perceive, label and categorize objects. Published to accompany a traveling exhibition of the same name with stops in Princeton, San Diego and Seattle, Jasper Johns: Light Bulb examines the significance of this common object as an image the artist explored for more than 20 years. The light bulb is the subject of Johns' first sculpture, "Light Bulb I," created in 1958, the year of Johns' first exhibition in New York at the fledgling Leo Castelli Gallery, and has appeared in various media throughout his long career. Bringing together for the first time all of Johns' light bulb sculptures and related drawings and prints--including several drawings and modified prints from the artist's own collection--this volume offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine Johns' practice through a single image and reveals significant relationships between his two- and three-dimensional work. It includes an essay by Dr. Stephanie Hanor, Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and a personal narrative on the creation of one of Johns' light bulb sculptures by the artist and former Johns studio assistant Mark Lancaster.
Reviews
The catalogue for a traveling exhibition (Princeton,San Diego and Seattle) centered on a recurring image in Johns's work, the light bulb,this small book is an interesting study on the way the artist manages to appropriate a mundane household fixture, through sculpture, drawing or print, and turn it into an icon of our society. The introductory essay is an enlightening study that shows how Johns succeeded in transcending his main inspirational source, i.e.Marcel Duchamp and dadaism, by using a common object "that the mind already knows" and turning, moulding, magnifying it into a work of art. Good-quality illustrations add to the value of this book, which is a worthwhile addition, albeit a small one, to the literature on the artist.
