While the Dada art movement of the 1920s and 1930s was short-lived, numerous artists have since tried to recapture or mimic that eccentric style with modern materials. One such artist who belongs to this crowd is the great American painter Jasper Johns.

Johns was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1930. He spent most of his youth with his grandparents in South Carolina, where he was where to dream and develop an interest in art. Johns came to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design in 1949 and put his artistic drive on hold for a brief tour in Japan during the Korean War. In 1954, he met and began a relationship with Robert Rauschenberg, who introduced Johns to the contemporary art scene in New York City.

After being discovered by gallery owner Leo Castelli, Johns became a sensation in New York and his work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. He later joined composer John Cage in founding the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Since the 1980s, Johns has continued to produce an average of 4 or 5 new paintings each year.

While some critics would see Johns' work as pop art in the same vein as Andy Warhol, Johns himself would disagree. His style has been considered closer to Neo-Dadaism; much like Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns deals with pairing opposites together and portraying visual irony. Whether in painting, sculpting, or printmaking, Johns takes popular symbols and turns them into pedestrian objects. Unlike the Abstract Expressionists of his time, he prefers to let the painted subject stand for itself rather than express some deeper meaning.

Because of his work with iconography, one of his most prominent paintings is Three Flags. This painting incorporates both wax and pigment on a canvas, depicting three concentric American flags. The flags are arranged in levels from smallest to largest, projecting out to the viewer to suggest a truly three-dimensional image. In keeping with Johns' style, there is no patriotic theme to the piece. The national flag has been reduced to a set of common objects, yet managing to evoke an reaction from the audience.

Indeed, the painting is significant enough that the Whitney Museum of American Art purchased it for $1 million in 1980, which at the time was a record-breaking auction sale. It also stands as testament to the enduring appeal of Jasper Johns.

To see more of the artwork of Jasper Johns, you can visit the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Image by Diego Lopez Roman on Flickr