Deutsche Bank Brazil sponsors Jasper Johns exhibition
Over 70 works on paper by American artist Jasper Johns are on view at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, one of São Paulo’s most prominent cultural institutions. The exhibition, which runs through August 26, 2012, is sponsored by Deutsche Bank and organized by the museum and Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), who is loaning most of the works.
The exhibition features lithographs from the 1960s, which show the fundamental importance of technique in Johns’ art and his special mastery in printmaking. These works were produced by ULAE shortly after the artist’s seminal 1958 exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery, and “16 Americans” at the Museum of Modern Art in 1959.
Jasper Johns’ work bridges Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art and remains influential in current contemporary art discourse. Johns’ work focuses on commonplace subject matter such as flags, letters, numbers, targets and maps. His intention is to provide alternative views of ordinary objects, or, as he says, “something not being what it is but becoming something different from what it is.”
Deutsche Bank Brazil has a long-standing tradition in supporting the arts in Brazil. In addition to the Jasper Johns exhibit, the Bank is also sponsoring the Laboratory of Conservation and Restoration of Pinacoteca for the fourth consecutive year. Through this program, Deutsche Bank is supporting the restoration of works in São Paulo’s oldest art museum.
Also at Pinacoteca Sao Paulo, the Brazil branch is sponsoring a comprehensive presentation of 130 works by Willys de Castro (1926-1988), a legendary artist of the “concrete movement” in 1950s-60s Brazil. The show opens on July 21 and runs until October 14.
Jasper Johns, 0-9, 1963, lithograph