Printer: Albin Uldry

Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm

Condition: Very good 

Frame: Oak

Description: Produced for Jasper Johns: Die Graphik at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1971, this original exhibition poster reproduces one of the artist’s most celebrated and thought-provoking works, Painting with Two Balls.

When Johns created the original in 1960, he challenged the traditional idea of what a painting could be. By dividing the canvas into three sections and inserting two wooden balls between them, he blurred the boundary between painting and sculpture with a deceptively simple gesture. It was precisely this ability to question accepted ideas that established him as one of the leading figures of post-war American art.

The image also brings together many of the visual elements that make Johns work so easy to recognise. Bold colour, geometric structure and stencilled lettering all feature prominently, echoing the visual language of his celebrated Flags, Targets, Maps and Numbers series.

Printed as a screenprint by Albin Uldry, the poster shows how consistently Johns’ has returned to printmaking and graphic design.  Rather than just advertising an exhibition, it shows Johns at a moment when he was rethinking how painting, print and object could relate to one another.

Artist: Jasper Johns is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker whose work bridges abstract expressionism, pop and minimal art. The American flag and US-related topics are regular themes. His original works sell for millions of dollars at sale and auction.