Jasper Johns--The Man and His Art on ‘Masters’

Jasper Johns had his first show at the Leo Castelli Gallery, a Manhattan showcase most artists would kill for, and he immediately sold three paintings to the Museum of Modern Art. It was an auspicious beginning for an artist often said to be the best in the country and who commands higher auction prices than any other living artist.

“I look at Johns’ career as pretty much a downhill slide from a not very high point to begin with,” critic Hilton Kramer says, but no one shares his view in “Jasper Johns: Ideas in Paint,” airing on “American Masters” at 9 tonight on Channels 28 and 15.

Artists Frank Stella and Richard Serra, critics Barbara Rose and Paul Richard, dealer Castelli, choreographer Merce Cunningham and experimental musician John Cage are full of praise as they explain that Johns’ work is, well, you know, unexplainable.

This leisurely hourlong film, produced and directed by Rick Tejada-Flores, takes time for Cage’s music, Cunningham’s dance, a sequence on printmaking and the seldom-heard-from artist’s long pauses. Collage-like in structure, “Ideas in Paint” proceeds chronologically but also doubles back on itself, picking up snippets from commentators and returning to Christie’s Nov. 9, 1988, auction, where Johns’ “White Flag” set a record of $7 million--topped the following night by Sotheby’s $17-million sale of “False Start.”

“I don’t think I fully understand the process,” Johns says. “When it begins, you’re pleased that you can make something and sell it. It allows you to devote yourself to the work you want to do. As it expands and the value increases, you see that society takes over in the value and the meaning of the work.”

With Johns, the meaning is the tricky part. What to make of his targets, flags, maps and ale cans? The reticent artist offers some insights: His work reflects the fragmentation of life, neutral subject matter allows him to concentrate on painting, he doesn’t want his work to expose his feelings, he prefers real things to illusions.

If he appears uncomfortable, looking rather like a furtive rabbit, it’s probably because he wants to get on with his job. If the film is disjointed, it nonetheless reflects the complex texture of Johns’ inscrutable art.