“I made the flags and targets to open men's eyes.... [they] were both things - which are seen and not looked at - examined.”

— Jasper Johns

John's own comment on his exhibition of the 'Flag, Target and Number' paintings in 1958
1950s

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Jasper Johns 34

American artist 1930

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Variant: We look not at the things which are what you would call seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But the things which are not seen are eternal.
Source: A Wrinkle in Time

“MUSEUM
They came, they looked, they walked
their eyes wide open
they didn’t see
because their minds were closed

Their eyes wide open
they didn’t know they couldn’t see
because their minds were closed;
so they looked, and left.”

Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) American artist

Annotated Drawings by Eugene J. Martin: 1977-1978

“It all began with my painting a picture of an American flag. Using this design took care of a great deal for me because I didn't have to design it. So I want on to similar things like the targets things the mind already knows. That gave me room to work on other levels. For instance, I've always thought of a painting as a surface; painting it in one color made this very clear... A picture ought to be looked at the same way you look at a radiator.”

Jasper Johns (1930) American artist

His heart belong to DADA, Time 73, 4 May, 1959: 58; as quoted in Jasper Johns, Writings, sketchbook Notes, Interviews, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996, p. 82
1950s

“The things I've seen in life will make you choke by surprise / like an aborted fetus in a jar that opened its eyes”

Immortal Technique (1978) American rapper and activist

Internally Bleeding
Albums, Revolutionary Vol. 2 (2003)

“Who has seen with their eyes open can see again, but with the eyes closed.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Quien ha visto con los ojos abiertos, puede volver a ver, pero con los ojos cerrados.
Voces (1943)

“Men see with arrogant eyes which organize everything seen with reference to themselves and their own interests.”

Marilyn Frye book The Politics of Reality

Source: The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983), p. 67

“Both flag burners and flag wavers can agree on one thing: The flag has meaning beyond the merely instrumental necessity of having a piece of cloth that identifies a legal jurisdiction.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

"The Power of Symbols in Our Politics of Digust" https://www.nationalreview.com/g-file/power-of-symbols-politics-of-disgust/ (28 December 2018), National Review
2010s, 2018

“I opened my eyes
While you were kissing me once more than once,
And you looked as sincere as a dog.
Just as sincere as a dog does,
When it's the food on your lips with which it's in love.”

Fiona Apple (1977) singer-songwriter, musician

Parting Gift
Song lyrics, Extraordinary Machine (2005)

“Eyes open wide, looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye.”

Richard Ashcroft (1971) English singer-songwriter

Urban Hymns (1997)

“The thing that struck me most was the way he stuck to the motif [in the 'Flag' and 'Target' paintings by Jasper Johns ]…. the idea of stripes – the rhythm and the interval – the idea of repetition. I began to think a lot about repetition.”

Frank Stella (1936) American artist

quote, 1960's
Quotes, 1960 - 1970
Source: The New York school – the painters & sculptors of the fifties, Irving Sandler, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978, pp. 215-216

“I made the flags and targets to open men's eyes.... [they] were both things - which are seen and not looked at - examined.”

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Jasper Johns 34

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