Around 1962, Johns began using his own body as an instrument for printing. He covered his face and hands in baby oil and pressed them against a sheet of paper, then sprinkled the residue with charcoal. The result in this case looks like Munch's The Scream or a still from Home Alone. In the margin, Johns typed an enigmatic poem of Frank O'Hara's, which begins with these lines: "The clouds go soft/ change color and so many kinds/ puff up, disperse/ sink into the sea." There's a back-to-basics feel to these images as well as a return to childhood, via finger painting and baby oil. But the O'Hara poem suggests another direction: down into the sea.


Jasper Johns, Skin With O'Hara Poem, 1963/1965 © Jasper Johns/licensed by VAGA, New York. Photograph by Ric Blanc © 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.


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