Whatever I do seems artificial and false, to me. Jasper Johns artificialfalse Change image and share on social
I'm not sure what 'coming out right' means. It often means that what you do holds a kind of energy that you wouldn't just put there, that comes about through grace of some sort. Jasper Johns comeenergygrace Change image and share on social
I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don't think that's a painter's business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason. Jasper Johns businessconsciousidea Change image and share on social
I am just trying to find a way to make pictures. Jasper Johns findmakepicture Change image and share on social
I decided that if my work contained what I could identify as a likeness to other work, I would remove it.' Jasper Johns containdecideidentify Change image and share on social
At first I had some idea that the absence of color made the work more physical. Early on I was very involved with the notion of the painting as an object and tended to attack that idea from different directions. Jasper Johns absenceattackcolor share on social
What you might consider a bad work can be of extreme interest to an artist in ways which are not about its being a good or bad. Jasper Johns artistbadextreme Change image and share on social
Sometime during the mid-50s I said, 'I am an artist.' Before that, for many years, I had said, 'I'm going to be an artist.' Then I went through a change of mind and a change of heart. What made 'going to be an artist' into 'being an artist', was, in part, a spiritual change. Jasper Johns 50sartistchange share on social
To me, self-description is a calamity. Jasper Johns calamitydescription Change image and share on social
I tend to like things that already exist. Jasper Johns existtendthing Change image and share on social