Art Study 2

Tantric Detail I. 1980
Oil on canvas
50 1/8 x 34 1/8" (127.3 x 86.7 cm)

      

      

      This art piece by Jasper Johns is called Tantric Detail I. Trantric Detail I is an illustration of a skeleton. The painting has a repetition of lines throughout the entire piece. Johns had also added a skull and then above there appears to be a portion of a bone, or what could be the brain of the skeleton. The colors used in this piece are mainly dark and gray. There is also some use of primary colors. If you look carefully, there are traces of white and shades of brown between the repetitions of the lines. The overall coloring is a slightly drab, but Johns’ creative use of reds, blues, and yellows, on only certain parts of the canvas makes the piece look more interesting.

      The skull represents human life. A skull is a familiar object, and as humans we are all created with one. To the left of the painting are the primary colors that are brighter and are more vibrant than the rest of the piece. It is slightly shaped like a person and symbolizes the character of the angel on your shoulder that tells you right from wrong. It represents the optimistic side of us. To the right of the painting are the darker colors and it symbolizes the eviler side with temptation and what is wrong. That side represents the pessimist part of us. Between the two sides is the brain. The brain resembles our mind, thoughts, and our conscience. The two sides are bigger than the brain because. It shows that our mind tends to wander off from time to time and that it is always consumed with different thoughts each day. With this art piece Jasper Johns wanted the viewer to have a different perspective on how the human mind works and how we think about things that happen everyday.

Images Cited:

The Museum of Modern Art. MoMA The Museum of Modern Art. October 29, 2008
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1996/johns/pages/johns.tantric.detail.html