Californians don’t get to see many leaves change but this fall they’ll have the chance to see the latest spectrum of colors created by a contemporary master, Jasper Johns. The artist’s representative for the past 12 years, art dealer extraordinaire Matthew Marks, is opening his second gallery in Los Angeles (he has four in Manhattan too) where new work by the 82-year-old Johns will be revealed. The very next day, Nov 3, SFMOMA will open a massive retrospective – the first in the Bay Area in 35 years – of Johns’ paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from the museum and local private collections (Charles Schwab’s a big fan) as well as many key works lent by the artist including one new large canvas that Marks presumably hasn’t sold yet.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers are bidding on the artist’s former home in Stony Point, New York. Forty years ago composer and Stony Point local John Cage told Johns to buy it. It’s a rustic 1930s farmhouse with a glass-walled studio where Johns worked in the 70s and 80s. The realtor claims Johns left old paint drops and bent coat hangers attached to the wall along with a small American flag. Note: The estate of late Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton sold Johns’ famous “Flag” (created 1960-1966) for $28.6 million in 2010. The house is listed at $356,700.