Jasper Johns
Fool’s House, 1962
Oil on canvas with objects attached. Collection of Jean-Christophe Castelli
CREATING A LEGACY
Jasper Johns turned 87 years old this year. He is thinking about his legacy. Besides his fascinating paintings, prints and sculptures, Johns has a 170-acre property in Sharon, Connecticut, which he plans to turn into an artists’ retreat after his death.
Johns has owned and lived on the property, on Low Road, since 1994. The property is on a hill with a mountain view, alongside a lake. On the site are six houses, an apple orchard and a large studio in a barn.
The plan, which Johns proposed to the town of Sharon’s zoning and planning commissions, includes operating and maintaining the property through an endowment funded by Johns’ estate and the Low Road Foundation, which Johns founded to support contemporary art.
The idea is for the property to operate as retreat where visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers can develop their art. Chosen artists will be allowed to use the property for three months. The number of artists working at one time would be limited to two dozen.
At the Royal Academy in London
The current exhibit of Jasper Johns’ works at the Royal Academy in London is the most extensive show of the artist’s work to be held in the UK in 40 years.
The show, called Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth, includes many of the paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures that Johns has created over the past sixty years. Many of the works have been borrowed from major public and private collections in the United States and Europe and have rarely been seen outside of those venues.
Johns worked with the Royal Academy curators in choosing and obtaining pieces for the exhibit, which includes Johns’ recent work. The show runs through December 10 and will travel to the Broad Museum in Los Angeles in February, 2018.
Jasper Johns at VFA
We are fortunate to have Jasper Johns work in our gallery, created in varying media, which showcase his diversity and talent during his long, and continuing, career. Please contact us for more information about Periscope l or any of the other fine works available in our gallery.