Larry Gagosian has opened a major exhibition of Jasper Johns's crosshatch paintings from 1973 to 1983 at his Upper East Side gallery in New York. In a forthcoming Gagosian Quarterly interview, Gagosian explains his motivation simply: he wanted to look at the works. The show features key pieces including all six versions of "Between the Clock and the Bed" (1981), borrowed from top-tier collectors and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Gallery of Art. Gagosian recounts first encountering the crosshatch paintings in 1976 at Leo Castelli's gallery, before he had met Johns, through his connections with Merce Cunningham and John Cage.
The exhibition matters because it demonstrates the unparalleled power and network of Gagosian, who was able to coordinate loans from multiple prestigious institutions and private collectors for a show that lacks a strong curatorial thesis but offers rare access to a celebrated series. The interview also clarifies a common misconception: Johns's crosshatch motif was not inspired by Edvard Munch's self-portrait, as often assumed, but predates his encounter with Munch's work. The show highlights the enduring influence of the 95-year-old artist and the dealer's personal, long-standing engagement with his art.