Jasper Johns "Gray"

Artist Jay Rolfe is looking forward to seeing this exhibit at the Met since reading Jerry Saltz' review in the current issue of New York Magazine. It's a great review, and I've read several others, both in popular and art publications. Before reading Saltz' review, I was apprehensive about the exhibit. The reason? As you've probably noticed, I like bright colors. Jasper Johns painted many paintings in bright colors and then again virtually the same painting in shades of gray. I have always liked the bright ones better. For example, in last year's exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington DC, both colorful and gray paintings were shown, although colorful ones predominated. I enjoyed that show and bought the catalog. Now I'm ready to see this exhibit. Thanks Jerry Saltz!

The 2 photos of the day are what is apparently the one colorful painting in the show "False Start" and its gray analogue "Jubilee" both painted in 1959.

That's the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's Unique Artistic Idea, his innovative 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/. Artist Jay Rolfe uses vibrant color, 3-D, recognizable shape, and huge size to reveal beauty, touch emotion in a positive way, and create Uplifting Conversation Pieces.

Jasper Johns ... my journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso

Jay Rolfe went to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Wednesday to see the Jasper Johns exhibit, "Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965." It closes today. It's wonderful to go mid-week, as there were very few visitors and I could park on the street in front of the National Gallery! The exhibit was ambitious in its exploration of 4 motifs of Johns' first decade, although it didn't include all of his motifs, notably leaving out maps and numbers. It was amazing to see so many variations all in one place, and of course there are others that weren't in the exhibit. I left with a greater appreciation of Jasper Johns as an artist and as an influence on subsequent painting. Here's a link to the National Gallery page on the exhibit. www.nga.gov/exhibitions/johnsinfo.shtm

At the same time, the National Gallery also had a large print exbibit titled "States and Variations: Prints by Jasper Johns." As had the painting exhibit, the print exhibit focused on 4 motifs, albeit different motifs than the painting exhibit. And the time frame was different, starting in 1960 with about 2/3 of the works from the 1960's, with the rest from the 1970's except one from 1982. It was an education. Here'a a link to the National Gallery page on the print exhibit. www.nga.gov/exhibitions/jasperinfo.shtm

You can see some expressions of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea on his website at www.3dssc.com. That's the next step on the journey of Jay Rolfe From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso.