Artist: Jasper Johns (song)
Jasper Johns the American artist
Did paintings composed of simple motifs
Motifs are recurring ideas in art works
Johns uses letters, numbers, flags, maps and targets,
Johns' motif is so well known,
So every-day, so lacking in surprises,
Or is it? If it is then why'd we look at it?
Johns is playing with paradoxes.
What does it mean? What is he trying to say?
There's one way to (look at it)are there other ways?
Questions you ask lead you through a maze
The more you look the answers are further away.
Jasper Johns is known for his painting 'Flag'
He painted it after a dream he had
Taking the American Flag out of context
You're left with something else some other content
The viewers of Flag are forced to concentrate
On the surface of the canvas, on the way he uses paint
Is it a painting about America?
Or a painting about paint?
What does it mean? What is he trying to say?
There's one way to (look at it)are there other ways?
Questions you ask lead you through a maze
The more you look the answers are further away.
Flag is alive with oil paint dabs and
Touches of colour and hot-pigmented wax
Which is called Encaustic, used by ancient Greeks
There are newspaper bits stuck with collage techniques
The secrets buried in the layers of mush
The histories conceal with the finger or the brush
Stripes and stars, red, white and blue
Jasper John's has got a (perfect) puzzle for you.
What does it mean? What is he trying to say?
There's one way to (look at it)are there other ways?
Questions you ask lead you through a maze
The more you look the answers are further away.