Hans Ulrich Obrist Says Jasper Johns Has Kept Him Out of the Studio
For a curator who has spent decades building relationships with artists, Hans Ulrich Obrist has one conspicuous absence: a studio visit with Jasper Johns. In a recent interview, the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London said he has repeatedly tried to see the painter’s workspace, but Johns has never agreed.
Obrist, who estimates that he has recorded more than 2,000 hours of interviews with artists, has made a career out of proximity. He is known for visiting studios, collecting handwritten notes from artists, and pursuing conversations that often stretch across countries and years. That persistence is part of the story behind his memoir, Life in Progress, which was set to be released in the United States this week.
Asked by Kelly Crow who had turned him down, Obrist pointed to Johns, the American artist best known for “Flag,” his 1954–55 encaustic painting of the American flag. Johns, now 95, is among the most private figures in postwar art, and Obrist suggested that the refusal is simply part of the artist’s temperament. “He doesn’t see anyone,” he said.
The exchange also recalled one of Obrist’s earliest acts of devotion to an artist. He remembered waiting eight hours outside Sigmar Polke’s door when he was 17 because the German painter did not have a telephone number. When Polke finally arrived, Obrist said, they spoke about alchemy.
That anecdote helps explain why the Johns story lands with such force. Obrist has built a public identity around access, conversation, and the archive of artistic exchange. Yet he ended his account with a note of restraint: “I think it’s good. We should all have a few unrealized projects.” In an art world often driven by access and visibility, the remark feels unusually apt.
