The latest curatorial partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, Florida features one of the most significant and influential American artists of our time, Jasper Johns.
In dialogue with the artist Robert Rauschenberg and his friends the composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, Johns evolved a new language in art in the 1960’s. As all four artists became immersed in dance and performance, the body itself entered Johns’ work, at first as fragments, but more recently the whole body appeared as a shadow or silhouette flitting through his lithographs and etchings. Johns’ prints overlay images and textures to stress process, and at the same time reflect the way our consciousness overlaps memory and perception.
The Gallery at Windsor will present ‘the body’ as it has appeared in Jasper Johns lithographs and etchings created with Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) print studio from the 1980s to the present. This exhibition is organised by the Whitechapel Gallery, London, where Jasper Johns had his first UK show in 1964. It is curated by Iwona Blazwick and Bill Goldston in partnership with Hilary Weston and with the artist.
In 1960, Russian émigré Tatyana Grosman invited Johns to transform his legendary painting into an equally radical work on paper. As co-founder of ULAE with her husband Maurice Grosman, Tatyana invited a host of young artists to the modest cottage in Long Island that was ULAE headquarters. As one artist recommended another, the ULAE press came to make prints with some of the most important artists in the world. Today, under the leadership of Bill Goldston, ULAE continues to make prints with living artists that are held in major museum collections. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, Jasper Johns has been the subject of major retrospectives and is one of the most influential American artists of his generation. Yet he continues to experiment, pushing the boundaries of printmaking today.
Iwona Blazwick OBE, former Director, Whitechapel Gallery said: “The Whitechapel Gallery first exhibited Jasper Johns’ work in 1964. It’s an honour and a privilege to return to an artist who continues to redefine painting and printmaking. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to trace the presence of the body in Johns’ prints. The silhouettes and figures in his lithographs, etchings and aquatints evoke performance, process, narrative and memory. The Gallery at Windsor offers a beautiful and tranquil setting from which to embark on a voyage through Johns’ complex and multi-layered aesthetic.”
The Hon. Hilary M. Weston, co-founder and Creative Director of Windsor and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, commented:
“We are thrilled to celebrate this important pioneer of painting and printmaking in The Gallery at Windsor. The collaboration between Windsor and Whitechapel Gallery began with the works of the Brazilian artist, Beatriz Milhazes, followed by that of Gert and Uwe Tobias, the Romanian born twins featured in our most recent exhibition.
This year’s exhibition of works by Jasper Johns reinforces our longstanding mission of presenting work by the leading artists of our time and it promises to be one of the highlights of the Art Basel Miami Beach this season.”
Visitor Information
Jasper Johns: Shadow and Substance, 8 December 2013 – 30 April 2014. The Whitechapel Gallery at Windsor, 3125 Windsor Boulevard, Vero Beach, Florida, 32963. Open to the public from 12.00 pm daily by appointment, closing times vary. Closed on Tuesday. Visitors to call: 001 772 388 4071 to arrange their visit windsorflorida.com/gallery or gallery@windsorflorida.com
