Shown is a Jasper Johns painting of the American flag. Image provided.

By Darla McCammon
and DeeAnna Muraski
Guest Columnists

WARSAW — America’s art scene in the tumultuous 1950s results in an interesting shift in our Art in America series. The start of the Cold War (1947-1991) rendered Americans helpless to fend off feelings of extreme anxiety. This anxiety was compounded with the Korean War (1950-1953) and start of the Vietnam War conflict (1955-1975). The fear and anxiety manifested in violent demonstrations nationwide. People were searching for an outlet, and this week’s artist helped provide it.

Jasper Johns, who was born in Georgia in 1930, is our first artist in the series who is still painting at the age of 94. Throughout his very long career, he has continued to innovate and create. He discovered his love of art at a very young age, which eventually led to his attendance at the University of South Carolina. His instructors urged him to use his unique talent in New York, where he had a better chance of getting noticed. A large majority of our artists in the series thus far ended up in New York. The synergy and collaboration of mutual artistic thought helped catapult the American art scene.

Johns has one of the most significant bodies of art work stretching almost 90 years and going though many growth spurts. He is noted for his diverse portfolio of: sculpture, printmaking and painting. He is most famous for being the impetus for the art deco movement through his precursor: the Neo-Dada movement.

Shortly after Johns served in the Korean War, he created and exhibited a series of flag paintings, which he would continue to distribute over the course of six years. His paintings guided America from abstract expressionism to Neo-Dada. The astute viewer would be moved to discover what was real and what was represented. This tracked directly with the fear and paranoia Americans were feeling with wars booming and sci-fi movies depicting alien abductions. The art was transitioning from realism and abstract to those that begged intellectual introspection.

Johns used innovative materials and techniques on his paintings. He brought back a method, still popular today, of encaustic painting. This system of mixing hot oil with the paint was used by the ancient Greeks who were incredibly forward thinking. The encaustic effect captured a dimension in the paint that appeared to shine and glow.

The photo provided is one of his paintings that helped secure Johns in the art annals. The process he used was unique to art, brilliant and alluring. Seemingly a simple American flag. However, each strip is composed of thousands of shredded newspapers (maybe articles on the wars?). These strips were then dipped in the hot oil creating the encaustic that was mounted on plywood.
Art in America was beginning to move from a one-dimensional mirror image of a perfectly poised portraiture to paint-outside-the-box. Johns was instrumental in moving forward in freedom and individuality.

Darla McCammon is an artist, columnist and author. DeeAnna Muraski is executive director of Operation Read USA Inc. Send an email to the mother/daughter team at either [email protected] or [email protected].