Jasper Johns at Serial Impulse GEMINI G.E.L @ LACMA

Recently, I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art aka LACMA to check out the Gulliermo Del Toro Exhibit "At Home with Monsters". While at LACMA, I stopped by the Resnick Pavilion to see The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L. exhibit. When I walked in the space I was immediately excited and breathtakingly huge space the pieces of art were housed in. The Gemini G.E.L ( or Graphic Editions Limited), since 1966 has been one of the most celebrated and renowned print workshops in the area of Los Angeles. They have been a pivotal force in the art of fine printmaking as well as being one of the leading forces of printing the works of internationally celebrated artist. 

The exhibit is compose of fifteen artist with a series of different mediums ranging from woodblocks, printmaking, and lithography. When walking in I was immediately taken with the "Black Numeral Series" (1968-1970) by one of my favorite artist, Jasper Johns.

Jasper Johns "Black Numeral Series"(1968-1970). Master Print.

Jasper Johns (b. 1930) is an American artist from Augusta, Georgia. He is a sculptor, painter and printmaker who's work is primarily in the fields of Expressionism, Neo- Dada and Pop Art. The numeral series is a series of prints ranging the numbers one through nine. I was drawn to this series of prints because I love how bleak they look, black being the primary color used and visually to my eye, they're so aesthetically pleasing from far away. However; when up close, your eye catches more of the detail within the numbers. The lithographic stones he used to print the series (which were the first Gemini edition of prints) are so beautiful with each one looking like they could have been hand painted.

The prints represent the idea of how counting is always an overlooked part of our everyday lives. My favorite number would have to be the "7". It's a stellar piece of printmaking. The black and grays of the print stand out to me to create a cohesive vision but also making the print look like an actual dollar bill with the way the font of the seven looks to the eye. Another interesting to me about the seven is the small little reappropriated image of Da Vinci's iconic famous piece the Mona Lisa. The highlighting and and shadows create a sense of chaos that tend to work together in beautiful harmony keeping the eye moving around the image.

 This exhibit is not open for long (September 11, 2016- January 2, 2016) so I would advise everyone to get down to LACMA and check out The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L exhibit. There is plenty of artworks to fall in love with and plenty of inspiration to get you inspired!