The artwork titled “0-9 (ULAE 19)” by artist Jasper Johns, created in 1963, embodies the Pop Art movement through an abstract genre. The artwork presents a series of ten prints, each featuring a digit from zero to nine. The numerals are depicted in a variety of textures and tonal variations, evoking a sense of both uniformity and diversity within the sequence.
In the artwork, Jasper Johns utilizes numbers as the focal point, a common theme in his oeuvre that challenges the conventional views of what constitutes art. Each numeral is treated uniquely, with variations in color, background texture, and the application of the printing medium. These differences invite the viewer to consider the relationships between the figures, the repetitive but distinct treatment of a simple subject, and the interplay between form, color, and meaning. The abstract approach does not seek to represent external reality, but rather uses the numbers as a means to explore artistic expression and the visual language itself.
Johns’ work in “0-9 (ULAE 19)” captures the essence of Pop Art by drawing attention to mundane or commonplace elements, in this case, numerals, and transforming them into art. His treatment of this subject matter in an abstract manner also places emphasis on the material processes of printmaking, highlighting the artistic value of the technique as much as the visual outcomes it produces.
