JASPER JOHNS (B. 1930)

Derived from Johns' 1959 Coat Hanger drawing and painting, Coat Hanger I, translates a three dimensional object into print. In the painting an actual coat hanger is attached to the canvas, a device which relates both to the Duchampian tradition of presenting common place objects as art and also relates to the combine paintings of Robert Rauschenberg. Here in the print the eye questions what it sees, as the coat hanger melds with the densley hatched background which lies below or behind, as the coat hanger perched on its nail.