Slice is a 2020 oil painting by the American artist Jasper Johns.
The work is a horizontal, mostly black oil painting that contains references to two outside sources: an anatomical diagram of a knee drawn by a Cameroonian emigre student Jéan-Marc Togodgue; and a map of the distribution of galaxies in a slice of the universe by Valérie de Lapparent, Margaret Geller, and John Huchra with graphics by Michael J. Kurtz. [1] [2] The painting was shown publicly for the first time in September 2021 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Johns's double museum retrospective Mind/Mirror, held simultaneously at the Whitney and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting is currently a promised gift to the Museum of Modern Art, New York. [1]
Much controversy has ensued over the fact that Johns initially used Togodgue's anatomical drawing of a knee without his knowledge. The artist informed the young student, who attended and played basketball at the Salisbury School near Johns's estate in Sharon, Conneticut] after Slice was completed. Johns originally saw the drawing in his orthopedist's office; Togodgue had given the drawing to the same doctor as a thank you for his own surgery. In August 2021, Johns and Togodgue reached an undisclosed settlement for a licensing agreement. [3]
Johns received the image of the galaxies from astrophysicist Margaret Geller prior to executing the painting. The title Slice is taken from the concept that the map represents a slice of the universe. [4] [3] [5]