JASPER JOHNS : Between the Clock and the Bed
Jan 22 - Mar 14, 2026
Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10075
I recently visited the Jasper Johns exhibition. It was my first time attending a solo exhibition by Jasper Johns, a living legend in the art world. While you can usually find one or two of his pieces in almost any major museum, it’s rare to have the opportunity to see so many of his works gathered in one place for a solo show. It was a wonderful chance to take a deep and detailed look into his artistic world.
As a "grandfather of Pop Art," Johns changed the game. Before he emerged, painters mostly focused on Abstract Expressionism, pouring out their raw emotions onto the canvas. However, Jasper Johns began to paint things we are already very familiar with—like the American flag, targets, and numbers. He made us reconsider whether art must always be "profound" and showed that even the common objects around us can be art. This shift eventually paved the way for Pop Art icons like Andy Warhol.
While people in the past often viewed a painting as a window to a landscape, Jasper Johns focused on the "texture" of the painting itself. By melting wax to create a thick, encaustic finish or mixing in sand, he made his paintings look so tactile that you almost want to touch them. He is a pioneer who brought importance to the "materiality" of a painting. Furthermore, he is a legend in terms of auction prices, being one of the most expensive living artists today. With some of his paintings fetching hundreds of millions of dollars, he is often described as a "walking corporation" in the art world.
크로스해치(Crosshatch, 빗금) 회화와 드로잉
가고시안은 카스텔리 갤러리와의 협력으로, 2026년 1월 22일부터 3월 14일까지(4월 24일까지 연장) 980 매디슨 애비뉴 갤러리에서 재스퍼 존스의 역사적인 작품들을 선보입니다. 이번 전시는 1973년부터 1983년까지 그의 작업 세계를 지배했으며 이후의 창작 활동에도 깊은 울림을 준 '크로스해치(Crosshatch, 빗금)' 회화와 드로잉을 조망합니다. 저명한 미국 미술관들의 대여작을 포함해 평소 보기 드문 작품들이 한자리에 모입니다. 1976년 카스텔리 갤러리에서 이 연작이 처음 데뷔한 지 50주년을 기념하는 이번 전시는, 1989년 <지도(Map)> 회화 전시로 문을 열었던 가고시안의 상징적인 980 매디슨 애비뉴 전시장 점유를 마무리하는 의미도 담고 있습니다.
존스는 시카고 미술관, 워싱턴 국립 미술관, 필라델피아 미술관에 장기 대여 중인 주요 작품들을 이번 전시를 위해 직접 내놓았습니다. 또한 LA의 더 브로드, 뉴욕 현대미술관(MoMA), 버지니아 미술관 및 개인 소장가들의 귀한 작품들이 함께합니다.
재스퍼 존스는 긴 경력 동안 현대 미술의 흐름을 여러 번 바꾸어 놓았습니다. 1972년 그가 도입한 '크로스해치'는 예상치 못한 발전이었으며, 그가 이전에 추구했던 일상의 사물, 기호, 언어적 파편들—즉 그가 "마음이 이미 알고 있는 것들"이라 부른 주제들—로부터의 변화를 의미했습니다. 평행선들이 서로 맞물린 구성이 특징인 이 전면 회화들은 납화(왁스를 섞은 물감), 콜라주, 아크릴, 유화, 수채화, 잉크, 심지어 모래에 이르기까지 다양한 재료로 만들어졌으며, 시각적·재료적·개념적 복잡함과 직관적으로 눈길을 사로잡는 아름다움으로 찬사를 받습니다.
주요 전시작으로는 <시체와 거울(Corpse and Mirror)> 연작(1974–84), 피카소의 작품 세계를 암시하는 <우는 여인(Weeping Women)>(1975), 안무가 머스 커닝햄에게 헌정하는 <평면 위의 무용수들(Dancers on a Plane)>(1980–81) 등이 있습니다. 또한 에드바르 뭉크의 자화상을 재해석하여 선배 예술가들과의 끊임없는 교감을 보여주는 <시계와 침대 사이(Between the Clock and the Bed)> 연작 6점 전체가 이번 전시에서 한데 모입니다.
Gagosian, in partnership with Castelli Gallery, is pleased to announce an exhibition of historic works by Jasper Johns at the 980 Madison Avenue gallery from January 22 to March 14, 2026 [extended through April 24, 2026]. This exhibition surveys the crosshatch paintings and drawings that dominated his practice from 1973 to 1983 and have reverberated across his subsequent production. It unites works that have rarely been seen with loans from sources including distinguished American museums. Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of this body of work’s debut at Castelli Gallery in 1976, it also bookends Gagosian’s occupancy of its flagship gallery at 980 Madison Avenue, which opened in 1989 with an exhibition of the Map paintings.
Johns is lending major works from his own collection to the exhibition, including paintings on long-term loan to the Art Institute of Chicago; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and Philadelphia Art Museum. Other notable lenders include The Broad, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; with additional works from private collectors.
Johns has redirected the course of contemporary art many times over a lengthy career. His introduction of the crosshatch in 1972 was an unforeseen development, representing a departure from his images of everyday objects, signs, and linguistic fragments—subjects he described as “things the mind already knows.” These allover compositions, characterized by parallel lines arrayed in interlocking configurations, and composed in encaustic, collage, acrylic and oil paint, watercolor, ink, and even sand, are admired for both their visual, material, and conceptual intricacy and their intuitively striking beauty.
Major works on view include definitive paintings from the Corpse and Mirror series (1974–84); the seminal Weeping Women (1975), with its allusions to Picasso’s oeuvre; and Dancers on a Plane (1980–81), a tribute to choreographer Merce Cunningham. The exhibition also brings together all six Between the Clock and the Bed paintings (1981–83)—improvisations on Edvard Munch’s self-portrait from 1940–43 that are an inspired example of the artist’s perpetual engagement with his predecessors.
Gagosian will publish a catalogue to accompany the exhibition that will feature essays by noted American art critic Roberta Smith and Carlos Basualdo, the cocurator of Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, a two-part lifetime retrospective held simultaneously at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in 2021–22.
Original Text From Gagosian Gallery
단순히 성조기나 숫자를 그린 것을 넘어, 그 표면 위에 겹겹이 쌓아 올린 왁스와 모래의 거친 질감을 마주하니 왜 그가 현대 미술의 판도를 바꾼 거장인지 온몸으로 느낄 수 있었어요. 우리가 이미 잘 알고 있는 익숙한 대상들이 작가의 손끝을 거쳐 이토록 묵직하고 낯선 '물질'로 재탄생한다는 것이 참 경이로웠어요.
수천억 원을 호가하는 그의 명성보다 더 인상적이었던 건, 아흔이 넘은 나이에도 끊임없이 새로운 시각적 언어를 탐구해온 그의 예술적 집념이었어요. 전시장을 나서며, 저 또한 익숙한 일상을 조금 더 세밀하고 깊이 있는 시선으로 바라봐야겠다는 다짐을 해보게 되네요. 감사합니다.
Beyond simply painting "flags" or "numbers," encountering the raw, layered textures of wax and sand on his canvases allowed me to feel with my whole being why Jasper Johns is a master who shifted the course of contemporary art. It was truly marvelous to see how familiar objects we already know so well are reborn as such heavy and unfamiliar "matter" through his touch.
Even more impressive than his reputation for fetching hundreds of millions of dollars was his artistic tenacity—constantly exploring new visual languages even into his nineties. Leaving the gallery, I found myself resolving to look at my own familiar daily life through a more detailed and profound lens. Thank you.