The grouping is canny and unforced — the sophistication and life experience seeping through the Johns enhance the meanings
of the other works, lending layers
of depth to the quotidian motifs circulating among them, while their heterogeneous explorations
of recycled imagery reflect the distance that Johns himself has traveled from the
simple declarations of his targets, flags and maps — and that the country has traveled from post-World
War II to post-Vietnam.