"Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?"

A show conceived by
Urs Fischer & Gavin Brown

May 9 - July 18, 2008

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"Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?"

A show conceived by
Urs Fischer & Gavin Brown
May 9 - July 18, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?"

Urs Fischer and Gavin Brown, together with the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, present Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns?

The title of the exhibition refers to Barnett Newman's famous painting Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue? Having just completed the painting Mr. Newman wanted to name it Who's Afraid of Jasper Johns? but purportedly Mr. Johns asked that he not use that as the title, and subsequently the painting was named as we know it today. Using this story, along with the gallery's history and Mr. Shafrazi's "pre-history' as a foundation or framework, the exhibition juxtaposes and demonstrates how each work of art has many selves hidden within, and how forces outside of the frame constantly "embed" and limit a work's interpretation. The exhibition attempts to intuitively create a "community" of objects and pictures whose collisions and free associations unshackle and unleash the repressed interpretations in these works.

Urs Fischer has "enveloped" the gallery in a mammoth wall installation, "wall paper," that acts both as a frame for the exhibition and as a nod to the gallery and its ghosts.

Artists participating in the exhibition include Francis Bacon, Mike Bidlo, John Chamberlain, Gilbert & George, Keith Haring, Georg Herold, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas, Malcolm Morley, Robert Morris, Cady Noland, Richard Prince, Francis Picabia, Rob Pruitt, Cindy Sherman, Rudolf Stingel, Robert Ryman, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lily van der Stokker, Lawrence Weiner, Sue Williams, and Christopher Wool.

For further information, please contact the gallery at info@tonyshafrazigallery.com



PRESS RELEASE PDF