Two Maps I

Jasper Johns had no experience with printmaking until he began working with Tatyana Grosman in 1960 at the Universal Limited Art Editions workshop on Long Island (founded in 1957). He continually complicated the processes of printmaking, making them an integral part of his working scheme. The repeatable nature of printmaking afforded him the opportunity to retain each stage of his projects and rework or recontextualize images as he wished. By using and reusing motifs, like numbers and letters, he deflected attention away from his subjects and to his techniques, which allowed him and the viewer to visit each subject in various conditions: color or monochrome, hard papers or softer ones, and transparent or more opaque inks.