Jasper Johns' Numbers series marks a significant exploration in the artist's oeuvre, blending his interest in familiar objects with a deep engagement in the conceptual and material possibilities of painting and printmaking. This series, which includes works created in various mediums, delves into the thematic and visual potential of numbers, a subject matter that Johns has revisited throughout his career.
Johns' fascination with numbers can be traced back to his earliest surviving work, "Construction with a Toy Piano" (1954), featuring a sequence of numbers. This interest further evolved with works like "Gray Numbers" (1958), where he painted numbers across a canvas in a consistent grid, excluding the upper left-hand rectangle to play with the viewer's expectations and focus (Jasper Johns Org). Such pieces underscore his engagement with numbers not just as symbols, but as forms that inhabit and define space in unique ways.
The Numbers series, particularly highlighted by works such as "0 through 9" (1961), showcases Johns' innovative approach to superimposing numbers over one another. This technique not only challenges the legibility of these universal symbols but also invites viewers to see the familiar in new, multifaceted ways. By layering the numbers 0 to 9, Johns created images that fluctuate with the viewer's perception, offering a slightly different picture with each glance. While Johns noted that the multiple-image effect was somewhat unintentional, it plays a crucial role in the dynamic interaction between the artwork and its audience (Jasper Johns Org).
In addition to paintings, Johns explored the numbers theme in prints, such as the Color Numerals series from 1969. These lithographs exemplify how changes in color, scale, sequence, and medium can profoundly impact the viewer's experience of familiar motifs. Each print in the series is derived from a commercial stencil, emphasizing Johns' interest in the intersection between everyday objects and artistic creation (National Gallery of Art).
Johns' work with numbers aligns with his broader artistic philosophy of focusing on "things the mind already knows" but often overlooks. By rendering these common symbols in various compositional and conceptual arrangements, Johns invites a reconsideration of their aesthetic and semantic dimensions. This approach is evident in his etchings and prints from the late 1960s and early 1970s, where the technical aspects of printmaking—such as etching and open-bite techniques—further enrich the textural and visual complexity of the numbers (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Jasper Johns' Numbers series encapsulates his enduring inquiry into how art can transform the mundane into the extraordinary. Through these works, Johns not only questions the ways we perceive and assign meaning to numerical symbols but also demonstrates how repetition, variation, and technique can unlock new dimensions of visual and conceptual interest.