Now at the Met is “Jasper Johns: Gray”, an exhibition of the artist’s work from the 1950s to the present in a variety of media, all of which are executed in tonal grays. Johns’ iconic symbols are all there: flags, targets, maps, numbers, and alphabets. In this show, however, the picture plane itself is the focus of the show; the color has been reduced to a minimal level so as not to interfere with the surface. One can look closely at the layers of collage and newsprint below the encaustic surfaces of the works on each of the works which for me created a new appreciation for the process of Johns’ art making. The show is comprised of more than 120 Johns works from paintings to sculpture. The exhibition runs through May 4, 2008 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Photo: Jamie M. Stukenberg/Professional Graphics Inc., Rockford, Illinois