JASPER JOHNS (b. 1930)

Target was Johns' first venture in printmaking which he created at Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), the first experimental lithography workshop in the United States founded by Tatyana Grosman in 1957. This lithograph was the beginning of a long collaborative relationship between the artist and publisher which continues to this day. This image features one of Johns' most iconic subjects, the target, in concert with his signature hatched drawing style. The lithographic crayon has crossed the stone's surface in an apparently random fashion, out of which emerges the geometric shape of the target; a visual paradox between the actual surface and the represented image which characterizes the artist's most important early work.