To make what pleases you . . .

Happy Birthday to the artist, Jasper Johns, Jr.! He was born May 15, 1930 in Augusta, Georgia (USA). He is best known for his painting Flag (1954-55), which he painted after having a dream of the American flag.

"I make what it pleases me to make.. ..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. I intuitively paint flags." - Jasper Johns

"Sometimes I see it and then paint it. Other times I paint it and then see it. Both are impure situations, and I prefer neither. At every point in nature there is something to see. My work contains similar possibilities for the changing focus of the eye." - Jasper Johns

Flag 1954–55 

Jasper Johns

Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric 

mounted on plywood (three panels)

42 1/4 x 60 5/8" (107.3 x 154 cm)

The Museum of Modern Art

New York, NY (USA)

Jasper Johns is represented by the Matthew Marks Gallery.

Flag image source (1)