Fabian Marcaccio writes about the work of Jasper Johns.

Marcaccio observes: "Most American painters are voluntarily simplistic. They are proud of maintaining one single technique, working on one single support and keeping one single attitude over the course of their careers. Johns wants to be a complete painter, not a specialist in this or that. He keeps painting total and whole despite the fact that many see it as exhausted and fragmented… There are no easy solutions for Johns or any painter with a sense of responsibility to painting. This ghostly piece [Perilous Night] contains some of the more productive seeds that have been sown in American painting in the last 30 years."