AMARILLO, TEXAS.-The Amarillo Museum of Art opens its season with an in-depth examination of the prints by the internationally recognized artist Jasper Johns. Jasper Johns: Prints is an expansive body of 91 works produced from 1960 to the present and made available to the Museum from the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation of Kansas City, Mo. The Belger Foundation collected these prints over three decades and has one of the largest holdings of Johns prints in existence.

This exhibition explores what has captivated many about Johns’ prints: his exactness of line and the characteristic resonance, of clarity and elegance, of his simplest drawn forms. As compelling are his examinations of shades of gray, exploring the visual and tactile qualities that he can extract from one color.

Having established a definitive identity in his paintings during the mid-1950’s, and immediately eliciting intellectually complex responses from critics, Johns took up graphic mediums in a structured way that relied exclusively on the compositions he had already achieved. The prints in this collection from the early 60’s replicate the flags, targets, and common objects, which were then his public signature, to later non-objective projects. Now forty years later there is little question Johns has contributed more, qualitatively, than any living artist to the printed form of art.

On Sunday, October 2nd, Dr. Richard S. Field, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Emeritus, Yale University Art Gallery will give a slide / lecture presentation on Jasper Johns and Uncertainty: The Artist’s and the Viewer’s followed by time in the gallery with wine and cheese reception to follow.

The Museum is located at 2200 S. Van Buren in Amarillo. The exhibition opens on September 10 and continues through October 23, 2005. Hours are Tues – Fri from 10 am until 5 pm with extended hours on Thursday until 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m. Please call the Museum for additional information. 806-371-5050, weekends 806-371-5392. No admission charge.