THE SUM OF ITS PARTS `JASPER JOHNS: NUMBERS' INCORPORATES 30 WORKS, A SINGLE THEME AND NO SHORTAGE OF THEORIES ON THE NATURE OF ART.

Byline: Steve Rosen Correspondent

The new Jasper Johns exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art is both a rewarding and challenging show.

``Numbers'' is just what its title indicates - the contemporary American artist repeating a single theme, the visual depiction of numerals, in various media over several decades. The earliest work dates from 1955; the latest, 1978. That's a long time to be preoccupied with such a simple, finite subject.

And for some, undoubtedly, that's more than enough time to exhaust the possibilities. In fact, a response from an average viewer might be, ``Enough of the same thing, already.''

But Carter Foster, LACMA's new curator of prints and drawings, says the show can be seen as akin to the way a scientist investigates the smallest changes on a single narrow subject of research - a raindrop, say, or a blood cell. In art as in science, any subject worth interest is worth plumbing for as much new meaning - or deeper beauty - as possible.

Foster comes to LACMA from the Cleveland Art Museum, where he organized the ``Jasper Johns: Numbers'' traveling exhibition, at LACMA through April 18. The Cleveland museum organized this show after acquiring 1960's ``Ten Numbers,'' a series of numerals drawn with charcoal and graphite on paper, and that work has made the journey to Los Angeles. (LACMA has put some of its works by Johns on display in a gallery adjoining the ``Numbers'' show.)

``Jasper Johns is widely considered one of the major postwar artists in America,'' Foster said. ``His work marked a break with the abstract-expressionist school, moved art back to imagery, and was a precursor of pop art.''

Johns consistently has been fascinated with flat objects as a subject of his paintings, prints and drawings - flags, bull's-eye targets and numbers. That is a way to get past the conservative definition of good figurative painting as looking ``real'' - appearing to have the same dimensionality as the actual object or scene it depicts.

``This questions what painting is and the nature of illusionism,'' Foster said.

Thus, ``Jasper Johns: Numbers'' isn't about numbers at all, even if it's quite literally ``figure painting.'' It's about how art sees the world - and how we look at art.

The ``Numbers'' show contains more than 30 works by Johns. He uses paint, collage, charcoal and graphite, and also has lithographs and works with sculptural elements in the show. The size varies - individual numbers can be contained on canvases as small as an LP jacket, or on sizable wall paintings.

One thing remains constant, though - the numeral, itself, is based on the familiar commercial-stencil depictions favored by industry and advertising. Johns eschews decoration - he resists prettifying the form of the numerals. But what he most passionately does not eschew is an obsessive dedication to his idea that numbers can have a purely aesthetic value that commands our attention without our need to add it all up.

In the show's first grouping, Johns' ``0 through 9'' works are displayed. In these, he has painted or drawn the numerals O through 9 atop one another. The numerals thus have become so abstracted that the effect isn't that far removed from a Jackson Pollock drip painting. It seems all over the place.

A 1961 oil painting from London's Tate Gallery interlocks the numerals in multicolored fragments that have a stained-glass effect; another from a private collection is all murky shades of gray.

The show then moves to Johns' ``Figure'' works - each a painting or drawing of a single number. Here, rather than being obscured, the form of the individual number is of towering importance. This is where Johns pays his most explicit tribute to past artists who worked with everyday signage and objects - Marcel Duchamp, Stuart Davis and especially Charles Demuth.

The latter's 1928 ``I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold'' is an obvious reference point for Johns' own 1960 ``Figure 5,'' an energetically rendered, large encaustic work (with collaged bits of newspaper) in shades of black and white. One can see in the lower left-hand corner the name ``Scull'' applied in black brush strokes - a tribute to the pop-art collectors who originally commissioned the piece. It now belongs to the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

This is a dark work - one can stand close to it and imagine hearing the thunder of an approaching storm. In contrast is the brilliant ``Figure 8'' from 1959, also painted in encaustic with collaged newsprint. Against a mostly white background, the vivid colors of the numeral veritably explode.

The other galleries are devoted to chronological serial depictions of numerals. Johns has set some rules for himself in these works - he repeatedly paints or draws O through 9 in order in horizontal rows.

This kind of repetition has a meditative effect, like a color-field painting by Mark Rothko. It forces the viewer to forget about the big picture - make that the big number - and appreciate the nuances in the work. One can admire the murky shades of white-on-white on the 1957 ``Numbers,'' or study the properties of the waxy encaustic that Johns uses to add texture to his 1958 ``White Numbers'' painting.

One wall is devoted to Johns' earliest experiment with lithographs, three sets of his 1960-63 ``0-9'' series, each consisting of 10 separate prints of the 10 primary numerals. Hung in horizontal rows - one black, one gray, and one with colors - they compose a fascinating study in order and organization.

In another room is a set of his 1969 ``Color Numeral Series'' of lithographs published by Los Angeles' Gemini G.E.I. company. Perhaps Johns was more relaxed when he did this work - the series seems less concerned with rules and more about fun. He uses primary and secondary colors for a rainbow effect, and plays little games with the numerals - the ``Mona Lisa'' peeks out from the bottom of a ``7.''

Johns' ``Numbers'' art may or may not endure as long or as well as ``Mona Lisa.'' It all depends on whether the artistry of Johns' approach will give his work emotional impact in years to come. But he works as hard as he can, with assured technique and intellect and a love of art, to create that impact.

This is, in its way, conceptual art. Johns asks you to work to figure it out.

JASPER JOHNS: NUMBERS

Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: Noon to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; closed Wednesday.

Tickets: $9 adults, $5 students and seniors. Admission is free the second Tuesday of each month and after 5 p.m. Call [phone] or visit lacma.org for more information.

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Photo:

(1 -- 4 -- color) Jasper Johns used encaustic for ``Figure 8'' (1959), above, and, at top, ``Figure 5'' (1955) and ``Small Numbers in Color'' (1959); ``Figure 1'' (1976), top right, is a dry point intaglio engraving.

(5 -- 6 -- color) Among the works from the ``0 through 9'' series on display at LACMA are the oil on canvas from 1961, top, and the ink on plastic from 1979, above.