BIO
Jasper Johns was born in at Augusta, Georgia in 19301. He grew up in Allendale, South Carolina2 and always wanted to be an artist. For a little while(1949 - 1951), he studied at the University of South Carolina, Columbia1. He then worked in a bookshop in New York from 1952 to 19581. During this time he met a number of artists including John Cage (composer), Merce Cunningham (choreographer), and noteably Robert Rauschenberg (painter).2
Through Rauschenber, Johns came into contact with much of the current modern art, including that of Marcel Duchamp. He was impressed with Duchamp's use of "ready mades" and found objects. He would later incorporate these ideas in some of his own works. As the art community became to look for new ideas, Johns was there to meet the challenge. He went the next step, taking the new ideas from Duchamp and others and mixing it with his own creative genious. "Johns' early work combined a serious concern for the craft of painting with an everyday, almost absurd, subject matter."2 His works brought new thought into art as he incorporated the "meaning" piece into the process of creating it, the materials used, and the interaction of the viewer. At least, sometimes. Johns explains, "There may or may not be an idea, and the meaning may just be that the painting exists."2
In 1958 his work became more recognized when Leo Castelli came upon John's work Rauschenberg's studio. He began to exhibit in different museums and eventually began to explore the world of printmaking. In the '60s, Johns would began to experiment with incorporating sculpture into his work. It was at this time that his work here discussed was created: 'Field Painting".