Creating a picture of Jasper Jones's thermometer. Representatives of the pop art movement and their methods of expression
A novelty from a female director unknown to Russian audiences. Although Australian cinema in general is not particularly in demand in our country, which is why many premieres pass us by.
In the story, a fourteen-year-old boy Charles lives his carefree life, when suddenly at night a certain dark-skinned guy Jasper, who is not very famous in the town, turns to him for help. positive impressions. Jasper takes Charles to the shore of the lake near his house and shows dead body the young girl with whom he had romantic relationship. Jasper asks the guy to help him hide the body and find the killer themselves, because if the police discover the body, they will arrest Jasper without further consideration, since the story takes place at a time when the topic of racism is quite relevant.
Of course, the plot may seem strange, but I’ll tell you more that the strangest thing is yet to come, so you can safely give the film a five for originality. I would like to point out right away that this is far from A film for children and the questions raised in the film are also not at all for young viewer. The theme of racism, family violence, betrayal, cruelty and much more that the main character will have to face. A modest but smart boy confidently solves problems and finds a way out of a rather difficult situations, so it is very interesting to watch, since it is difficult to predict the ending of the film, but it will be strong. Thanks to plot twists it’s difficult to tear yourself away from the screen, since the director’s production, actors and pleasant music are perceived very high level. It can be assumed that the heroes’ childhood is passing right before our eyes, when they were just little green kids, discussing superheroes from comic books, and here they are immediately grown-up people with a bunch of adult problems. The film contains footage of children drinking alcohol, seeing death and many having to do dangerous things, so this is still a complex adult creation for true connoisseurs of high-quality cinema.
You can talk a lot about the actors for a long time, but I will just say that everyone was just great. Each actor revealed their character to the fullest. In the frame, everyone looks different in image and strong characters in their characteristics. It’s nice to look at them, it’s nice to listen to them, you worry and worry about them, because the actors look natural and diverse.
The film is really worth seeing, as the reviews from critics are good, IMDb rating: 8.00 (if anyone is paying attention). But overall, this is a meaningful dramatic story about friendship, family and of course love.
Enjoy watching.
Today, May 15, the modern outstanding American artist, sculptor, illustrator – Jasper Johns.
Jasper Johns is an outstanding, controversial American artist, a supporter of abstract expressionism, neo-dada and pop art. He had a significant influence on Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stell, Roy Lichtenstein.
Georgia native, Jasper for a long time lived in South Carolina. Studied at the New York School of Design. During the Korean War he was stationed in Japan, in Sendai. In 1954, Jones returned to New York, where he met Robert Rauschenberg, an American graphic artist. They become lovers. Jones and Rauschenberger are friends and collaborate with another gay creative couple: Merce Cunningham, a choreographer, and John Cage, a composer. Working together, they explored modern art scene, developing their ideas about art. In 1958, gallery owner Leo Castelli met Jones and gave him the opportunity to exhibit his work for the first time. It was at this first presentation that Alfred Barr, founder and director of the New York Museum contemporary art, buys the first four works of an aspiring artist. In 1963, Jones and Cage founded the Foundation for Contemporary Art, now known as the Foundation for Contemporary Art in New York.
One of the most famous works Jones, created in 1954 - 1955, is called "Flag". In general, the American flag, as such, is very often found in the artist’s paintings. The master’s works are considered to be part of the neo-Dadaist movement, although his works often include images and objects of pop culture. In his painting, Jones uses techniques of classic pop art iconography. Early works artist, are mainly built on simple circuits such as flag, number, letter, map. In his works the artist uses simple colors, simple objects, often playing on irony and paradox. Creates many works using engraving, lithography and sculpture. Some critics agree that the same famous work“Flag” is nothing more than abstract expressionism. In Jones's works, the symbol appears in pure form, existing beyond all references and contexts. And “Flag” is, first of all, visual object, as a complete, self-sufficient image that exists in isolation from symbolic connotations. A striking example, things in themselves.
Jasper Johns and modern pop art
Jasper John is a famous American artist who managed to surprise the world with his paintings in several popular destinations: abstract art, pop art and expressionism. His most famous work will always remain “Flag”, written at the turn of 1954-1955.
Biographical facts from the life of Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns is a native of Augusta, Georgia. He was born on May 15, 1930. However, after some time, his parents separated and he moved with his mother to South Carolina. The bulk of his childhood was spent there. Due to his mother's attempts to arrange a personal life, the boy often moved from his mother to his grandparents in Allendale. It was believed that there were no worthy artists in these two cities, so, according to Jones himself, he became self-taught. Later, in 1947, he finally entered the Faculty of Arts. After studying for three terms, Jasper decides to leave the university and go to New York, where the formation of his worldview begins, and special features of painting emerge.
New York did not live up to the young man's expectations and he went to the US Army after completing one semester. The service was not easy for him. Just during these years it happened Korean War, so he was sent from a base in South Carolina to Sendai, Japan. After the war, he returned to New York where he met gallery owner Leo Castelli and Alfred Barr, who was listed as director Modern Museum arts
The best works of Jasper Johns
Surprisingly, the first ones received recognition, and, perhaps, best works artist. All work carried out in the second half of the 50s was filled special meaning, subtlety of edges and soul. Art critics are confident that the reason for the sensuality in the images was his boyfriend Robert Rauschenberg. The well-known “Flag” was created around 1955. The work received a lot of reviews, criticism and controversy. They saw it as a manifestation of American imperialism, while others argued that it was a complete mockery of their own country. Be that as it may, Alfred Barr decides to buy the canvas for permanent exhibition. But the criticism is so sharp and multifaceted that it becomes dangerous to buy it. Barr decides to "buy through an intermediary." Someone purchased the painting and donated it to the museum.
One interesting view of this work is that Jones is making political objections to his country. Robert Rosenblum very aptly posed the question “is it sacrilege or reverence?” After much reasoning and wandering in search of the truth, he finally comes to a conclusion, calling the picture “blasphemous and disrespectful.”
The flag was one of the artist’s favorite themes. A little later it appears in the paintings “White Flag” and “Three Flags”. However, the first painting failed to outshine any of those painted later. There have been a lot of speculations and assumptions around “Flag” for a long time. Already in the 20th century, considering it from the point of view of the art movement, it becomes clear that it became a challenge and the beginning of a large-scale movement. In other words, we can safely say that Jasper Johns gave freedom to the work of Andy Warhol and other representatives of pop art of the 60s.
Another version says that “Flag” is a kind of continuation of the ideas of Marcel Duchamp and his successors. As can be seen from practice, a flag can be printed on fabric and it will look like a simple thing, without symbolic meaning. Playing with an object, creating a symbol - all this distinguishing feature the works of Jasper Johns.
Popular artists
Western Australia, 1969, Corrigan town. Charlie Bucktin and his friend Jeffrey Lu discuss which superhero is cooler: Spider-Man, Superman or Batman. They come to the conclusion that the coolest is Batman. He has no superpower, he could die, so he must overcome his fear. In the evening, Charlie lies in bed and reads a book by Mark Twain. His mother Ruth forces the boy to sleep.
At night, Jasper Johns knocks on Charlie's bedroom window. This is a young mulatto, he lives near the house of the Baktin family with his father. Jasper asks Charlie for help. He had never spoken to Charlie before. There is talk in the town that Jasper is dangerous. He invites the boy to go through the forest with him, where he will show him something. Charlie gets out of the house through the window and goes with Jasper into the forest. He shows him a girl’s body in a white nightgown hanging on a tree. Charlie can't help but scream. This is Laura Wishart. Charlie suggests notifying the police about the incident. Jasper says you can't do that. He will immediately be blamed for what happened. He lives nearby. And the rope on which the body hangs belongs to him. In Corrigan they already treat him with prejudice. And he was seen with Laura several times. Who killed the girl? Jasper claims that it was mad Jack Lionel who did it. He went crazy after the war, he saw Laura with Jasper. We need to come up with something. Jasper climbs the tree and cuts the rope. The body falls to the ground. With the help of Charlie, Jasper takes the hanged woman in his arms, asks her to take with him a large stone lying nearby, and goes to a nearby pond. He lowers the body into the water, places the stone Charlie brought on the deceased’s chest, and the body plunges under the water.
In the morning, Charlie's mother wakes him up: get up if you don't want me to throw away your breakfast. Charlie washes himself and sits down at the table. He eats almost nothing. His mother says his friend Jeffrey came to pick him up. Let Charlie hurry up. Charlie leaves the house and goes to a friend. They are riding bicycles, Geoffrey is carrying a cricket racket. He asks a friend why mermaids are considered so sexy, because below the waist they are fish. Maybe even tasty. They are probably considered sexy because of their boobs. What would Charlie rather have: a hat made of live spiders or penises instead of fingers? What's better - a magnetic head or farting through your mouth? Charlie sees that there are a lot of police in the town today, he refuses to carry on a conversation on stupid topics. The boys arrive at the stadium. Jeffrey tries to train with the team, the older players tease the boy with a “kong” (that is, a monkey, Jeffrey is Asian, they talk about the Vietnam War on TV). The boys are leaving training. They arrive at Mad Jack's house. Jeffrey says that Jack once worked at a slaughterhouse and killed a woman. Then he hung her body so that all the blood drained out of it. Charlie didn't hear this story.
Charlie returns home. He hears his mother talking to someone on the phone. Her voice is alarmed. The boy writes in a notebook: find out about the slaughterhouse; motives. Ruth enters her son's room without knocking and tells him that now he must be either at home or on the street, but so that people can see him. Charlie wonders what happened? Mother says it's none of his business. You just need to follow the rules outlined by her.
Charlie goes to city library. He looks through the newspapers, quietly tears out a page, and hides it in his bag. The boy is walking to the exit. He sees a girl talking to the librarian. She turns around. This is Eliza Wishart younger sister Laura. She asks Charlie to wait for her outside. While waiting for Eliza, Charlie sniffs his armpits. She comes out. She took the book “Breakfast at Tiffany's” that she had ordered from the librarian. Eliza says that she really liked the film based on this book with the charming Audrey Hepburn. But her mother did not allow her to buy the book; she had to order it from the library. She thinks that the librarian is not familiar with its contents. Since he does not read books written in this century. She and Charlie arrive at the Wishart family's house. Eliza's alarmed mother comes out from there, the girl manages to put a piece of paper in the seditious book and give it to Charlie. She asks to keep the book for her, but not to read it until she does so herself. The mother reprimands the girl and drags her into the house. Charlie comes home and his mother yells at him because he wasn't outside all the time. The father tries to calm his wife down, but she demands that Wes Bucktin not undermine her parental authority.
A meeting is taking place at the city hall. Police say the daughter of local mayor Pat Wishart has gone missing and hasn't been seen since Christmas. Tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. the search for the missing person will begin, everyone is invited, helicopters will conduct a search from the sky, divers will comb the river bottom. There is a curfew for minors. It is also reported that another native of the town died in Vietnam. A buffet was organized for city residents. The mother of a guy who died in Vietnam becomes hysterical; she pours coffee over Jeffrey’s mother and shouts at her. Nobody stands up for Asian women.
At home, Charlie talks with his father. He shares his thoughts about Laura’s disappearance. He used to think that she had run away Big city. But when examining her room, traces of blood were found, everything was turned upside down, the windows were wide open. So everything is much more complicated.
At night, Jasper comes to Charlie and asks the boy to leave. He climbs out through the window, looks out the window of his father, who is sitting at his typewriter. Charlie and Jasper arrive at Mad Jack's house. There's a light on there. They are sitting on the river bank. Jasper treats Charlie to whiskey that he stole from his father. He drinks so much that he won’t notice it’s missing. After Jasper's mother died, he went completely off the rails. Jasper says he inherited his dark skin color from his mother, whom he doesn't even remember. His mother died in a car accident when he was very young. Jasper says that he and Laura loved each other, but they could only meet at night; during the day, Jasper could not even get close to her house. They were going to live together, so Jasper wanted to save money and went to work as a fruit picker for three months without telling Laura about it. When he returned on the eve of Christmas, he came to her window at night, but did not find Laura. He heard a scream in the forest, he ran there and found her hanged. Charlie discovers a sign on the tree where Laura was hanging: I'm sorry. Who caused it? Mad Jack is probably somewhere nearby, we need to get out of here urgently. They see the car. Charlie runs towards the house. Ruth gets out of the car. Charlie goes to bed and pretends to be asleep. His mother is sitting by his bed.
The next day, Charlie sees Jasper being detained by the police in the city. Charlie and Jeffrey make their way into Jack's yard, they examine his old broken car, the inscription on the door is visible: sorry. The owner of the house drives the boys away; in his haste, Charlie leaves a bag with Eliza’s book in Jack’s yard.
Jasper comes to see Charlie. He managed to escape. Charlie talks about the writing on the car. They go to Jack's house, sneak up to the window, Charlie sees that his bag is inside. Jasper wants to deal with Jack, but Charlie suggests waiting until New Year's Eve. Then everyone will be busy with fireworks, they will be able to get into Mad Jack's house without witnesses. On his way to the house, Charlie is stopped by a police sergeant. He brings Charlie to his parents and interrogates the boy: who was he with? Charlie claims that he went to Eliza's house, about whom he is crazy.
In the morning, Ruth forces Charlie to dig a large hole in the backyard as punishment. Eliza comes and asks about her book. But Ruth sends her home. After dinner, Charlie's mother demands that Charlie begin burying the hole. Then she leaves. The father buries the hole instead of his son. Ruth bought herself a new car and invites her husband and son to go for a ride with her. They do not respond to her request, Ruth leaves. Charlie is cleaning himself in the bathroom. His father is talking to him. He asks him to apologize to his mother, she was very worried about him, that’s why she punished him.
Charlie goes to watch a cricket match. Jeffrey is hired to play as a substitute. Charlie approaches Eliza, who is sitting on the side, and she is reading a book. They are talking. Jeffrey lands the winning blows, everyone rejoices, Eliza hugs Charlie. They agree to meet at New Year. Then Charlie will give the girl her book.
New Year. Townspeople waiting for fireworks on main square. Charlie and Jasper come to Jack and challenge him to talk. He lets them into the house. Jasper grabs the gun and aims at the old man, demanding to tell him everything. He shows the guy a photo of him, his father and mother. It turns out that Mad Jack is Jasper's grandfather. He quarreled with his son over his marriage to a black woman. But after the death of his wife, his daughter-in-law began to look after him, and they became friends. One day, during a visit to Jack, a woman had a seizure, Jack took her to the hospital, he was in too much of a hurry, an accident occurred, Jasper's mother died, which Jack regrets. But he knows nothing about Laura’s death. Charlie leaves his grandfather with his grandson, grabs his bag and runs back to the square.
On the way, he sees his mother having sex with a sergeant in the car. She tries to explain to her son, but he does not listen to her and runs on. The fireworks are over. Charlie comes to Eliza's house and calls her. He invites her to tell her about Laura’s death and leads her to the tree. Eliza says that she knows everything herself. Jasper appears and yells at Charlie. But Eliza hands him a note that she took from a book that Charlie kept. This suicide letter Laura to Jasper. The girl thought that the guy left her. Laura was raped by her own father, she became pregnant from him, could not bear the shame and hanged herself. Eliza witnessed her sister's suicide, but did not have time to prevent it. That's why she wrote "sorry" on the tree. And Jasper can't even read.
Charlie and Eliza give Laura's note to the girls' mother. She tears her apart. Charlie runs to the police station, its doors are locked. He is waiting. After some time, the sergeant arrives there, but he has no time to talk to Charlie, a message has just been received that there is a fire in the Wishart family house. Charlie runs there. The house is on fire. Mother and Eliza look at the fire. Firefighters drag the body of Laura and Eliza's father.
Charlie returns home. Ruth leaves their house after talking with her husband. Charlie is crying. He stays with his father. Charlie goes into his room. On the bed, he discovers the manuscript of Wes's completed novel and a bottle of whiskey from Jasper.
Is there a lot contemporary artists are very popular among collectors, sell their creations for fabulous sums, and at the same time managed to introduce and preserve their own style in the art world? The reality is that most of the ingenious and amazing things have already been created years (or even centuries) earlier.
Nevertheless, our time is not deprived of deservedly appreciated masters, among whom the star of the genius of pop art shines brightly Jasper Johns. Opinions about his talent are contradictory, but one thing is undeniable - he is a true classic and the most expensive living artist.
The story of Jasper Johns bears little resemblance to the fates of most of his contemporaries. The artist was born on May 15, 1930 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. He later moved to a small town in South Carolina, where he lived until his eighteenth birthday. There were no painters or sculptors in Jones's family, and the place where he grew up had nothing to do with art. It can be said that until 1948, Jasper Johns did not even know what it was. The master began his path to fame after moving to New York, where he met with, who passed on his rich knowledge and vision of art to him, and also helped him form his own ideas.
But Starting point in the creation of Jones's own handwriting was his acquaintance with the work of, one of the founders of the ready-made movement, which presented recycled household items as works of art without special changes. This is how they received new life and carried a completely different meaning. Duchamp's work served as inspiration for a series of bronze-cast works created by Jones in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Afterwards, Jasper Johns became close friends with gallery owner Leo Castelli and the most famous pop art artist Andy Warhol.
There is a series of works in Jones's oeuvre that can easily be called the most significant for the master. It was created in the second half of the 1950s and is called “Flag”. The artist later spoke about her like this:
“One day I dreamed that I was drawing an American flag, and when I woke up, I did it. First I drew one, then the other, and that’s how the series turned out...”
All works in this series are so large in size that they overwhelm standing nearby viewer. The images on the canvases are familiar to everyone and are almost the same: the American flag is completely identical to the original in its structure, presented in different color or quantitative interpretations. Criticism of these works was ambiguous: while some admired the artist’s patriotism, others saw in them rejection public policy. Jasper himself gave very evasive comments on this subject and spoke of an attempt to draw attention to the true American values, the need to preserve and increase them.
The flags were replaced by gigantic “Numbers”, and after them such simple and familiar images as targets, letters and cards were actively used. All of Jones's works are executed lushly and picturesquely. The master often painted his works with large expressive strokes in order to more clearly indicate that the image belongs to art. In addition to brushstrokes, it is characterized by the use of encaustic (technique wax painting) and relief. One of the brightest paintings Jones are "Map", "Target" and "0 to 9".
Jasper Johns was attracted not only to painting, but also to sculpture. What all his works have in common is that they are cast in bronze and represent everyday objects.
The “sources of inspiration” for the master were a light bulb, Toothbrush and an electric torch. But the most popular sculpture is “Two Cans,” which represents two bronze beer cans.
Jasper never tried to portray himself as a great philosopher, reflecting the sacredness of existence in his works. He recorded life as the vast majority of people see it every day.
Jones believed that there is nothing more alive and truthful than those objects that are always before our eyes. His creations make viewers look in surprise at something they have never perceived as something close to art. But they look closely and even find unexpected subtext!
Jones's approach to art won over a huge audience and provided the master with worldwide fame and recognition. His painting “White Flag” was sold for more than 20 million dollars, and this is far from his highest fee, because for “Flag” he earned 110 million.
Today Jasper Johns is the most expensive living artist. He proved that art is not only about elitist, languid images. For him, it is in any object created by man.
