
TWO OF A KIND
THE MIND ALREADY KNOWS 2, but not this 2. This one’s unfamiliar—at variance with the 2 I already know—and so not particularly well seen by my most ready-to-hand ideas: so many automatic thoughts about 2, two, gray, portrayal, painting, and more. Johns’s clear, obtuse construction shows a natural number turned out in flamboyantly scuzzy typographical uniform, sporting seven colors plus a range of grays and the beige of peeking canvas. Seductively, emphatically, Johns blends content and pure painting, casually reconciling an exaggerated division. We associate 2s in this particular typographic