“I think that the picture isn't pre‐formed, I think it is formed as it is made; and might be anything.” Jasper Johns

Executed in 1998, Jasper Johns’ Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue) illustrates the artist’s expertise in both printmaking and painting. Johns began utilizing the printing press in 1960, later perfecting his process in the 1980s, thoughtfully preparing and reworking each plate to carefully impress his print along the sheet, revealing intricate yet shallow imagery.

The present lot, originally in the collection of the legendary choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones, consists of three printed panels on a single horizontal sheet, overlaid with muted blue-gray pigment, and features subtle hints of primary colors. Consistent with Johns’ frequent juxtaposition of language with visual information, the order in which the written colors appear in the title is intentionally misaligned with the order in which they appear in the composition. In the late 1990s, Johns began to illustrate impersonal and often cartoon-like illustrations, as exhibited by this work’s inclusion of geometric shapes, downward pointing arrows, and a detached arm. His disconnected imagery begs for further interpretation and meaning, such as understanding the arbitrary upwardly stretching arm as a hopeless hand reaching out for help. Johns' work acts as a means of communication, evoking personal expression or a dramatic conceptual dialogue between himself and his viewers. Instead, this work represents his interest in the layers of the artistic process, including the engraving of each plate, the pressing of each print, and the topical addition of acrylic pigment. As one of his sketchbook entries from the early 1960s appropriately states, “Take an object, do something to it, do something else to it” (Jasper Johns, notes from sketchbook A, p. 42, c. 1963-64; transcribed in Varnedoe and Christel Hollevoet, Jasper Johns: Writings, Sketchbook Notes, Interviews, p. 54).