(One is unable to notice something because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of his inquiry do not strike a man at all. 'The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. Wittgenstein himself had written in terms that apply perfectly to Johns' paintings, especially those showing flags, maps and numerals: Johns, in a manner that parallels some of the writings of Wittgenstein, is questioning the nature of 'numerals,' the arbitrary reflex that the viewer shows in looking and instinctively reading it, the strange way in which language applies labels to concepts and objects. In taking a simple numeral, one of the simplest building-blocks of our thought systems, and enshrining it on the surface of the prints, he begs us to look both at the picture as an object, and also at the number itself. Discussing such sources, Johns said, 'That's what I like about them, that they come that way' (J. In 0-9, this is clear in the newspaper-print-like font that Johns has used to render the numeral. With the numerals that he selected as his subject matter, Johns increased this sense of the given, of the pre-conceived subject, by choosing stencilled images that somehow gave the sense that they were the perfect, generic embodiments of the number that they conveyed. Francis, Modern Masters: Jasper Johns, New York, London & Paris, 1991, p. The most conventional things, the most ordinary things- it seems to me that those things can be dealt with without having to judge them they seem to me to exist as clear facts not involving aesthetic hierarchy' (J. 'I'm interested in things which are rather than in judgments. 'I'm interested in things which suggest the world rather than suggest the personality,' he explained. There is no room for the personal anguish or expression of the Abstract Expressionists. This interest in using fact, in taking something entirely objective as his subject matter, something so perfectly finite, was revolutionary. Sylvester, Interviews with American Artists, London, 2002, p. Discussing his use of numerals as subjects, Johns has stated that, 'They seemed to me preformed, conventional, depersonalised, factual, exterior elements' (J. It is instantly recognisable, infinitely versatile, and as such becomes a form of readymade.

Any person familiar with the Western numeral system knows these numbers, celebrated like an icon. For this is a basic and elemental fragment of our reality, of our lexicon, of our world. Presented as it is here, within the context of an artwork, it is unclear whether it has been written or represented. Just as his Flag not only appeared to show a flag but also was a flag, so too in 0-9 we see the numbers. This play with notions of representation, appropriation, and reality has informed almost all of Johns' works.

Johns' numerals, like his Flags and Maps, are also sometimes linked to the mindless routines of his life during his time in the Army, as well as to his artistic experiences- for instance with poster-making and cartography- while he was serving. Johns himself claimed that the notion of these works was a perversely literal reaction to de Kooning's figure paintings. Johns’ so-called 'Figure' images were the result of a variety of ideas, experiences and influences.

Jasper johns numbers