The Resume

(May 15, 1930- )
Born in Augusta, Georgia
Painter, printmaker and sculptor
Pop artist known for works incorporating flags, targets, maps and stenciled letters and numbers
Works include 'Flag' (1954), 'Target with Four Faces' (1955), 'Three Flags' (1958), 'False Start' (1959), 'Painted Bronze' (1960), 'Periscope (Hart Crane)' (1963), 'Numbers' (mural, 1964), 'Voice' (1967), 'Skull' (1973), 'Titanic' (1978), 'Perilous Night' (1982), 'Seasons' (1986) and 'Numbers' (sculpture, 2007)

Why he might be annoying:

He dropped out of the University of South Carolina after three semesters and the Parsons School of Design after one.
Before his art career took off, he created window displays for Tiffany's.
He dislikes being described as the 'father' of Pop Art.
After his 'False Start' sold for over $17 million (1988), the Guerrilla Girls put up posters declaring, 'For the 17.7 million you just spent on a single Jasper Johns painting, you could have bought at least one work by all of these women and artists of color,' followed by a list of 67 artists.
He has a reputation as a difficult interviewee, and is particularly unwilling to discuss the 'meaning' of his art. ('The meaning may just be that the painting exists.')

Why he might not be annoying:

During his first solo gallery show, the Museum of Modern Art bought four of his works (1958).
His 'False Start' sold for $80 million, setting a record for the most expensive painting by a living artist (2006).
He became the first painter or sculptor to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom since Alexander Calder in 1977 (2011).
He said, 'Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.'
He poked fun at himself in the 'Mom and Pop Art' episode of The Simpsons.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Painters
• 21st Century Painters
• Allegedly Gay Men
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 55]
• College Drop Outs
• Guest Voices on the Simpsons
• I Attended University of South Carolina
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• Look at My Bullseye
• Painters
• People Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People [1977]
• People with John or Mary in their Names
• Profiles 35751-36000 (Ranked: 35912)
• Sculptors
• U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 19 Votes: 57.89% Annoying