“Flags” is a work painted by Jasper Johns. Most of Jasper Johns paintings consist of American flags, or some sort of patriotic notion. Jasper Johns’ paintings include unique concepts in that they attempt to trick the eye. The message that Johns tries to relay to the viewer is that what the eye sees is unique to everyone. The concept of after-image is used in “Flags” in order to determine someone's perception of a specific image or painting. After-image is seeing reverse colors in an image after looking at an image for a long period of time, then staring at a blank wall. In addition, “Things the mind already knows”, or the opponent process is a concept that Johns tries to portray in his work. It is the idea that enhances the many meanings and interpretations that viewers take away from his paintings for example, how one sees color. The concepts of after-image and the opponent process all come from the ‘mother theory’ of complementary color. Both after-image and the opponent process are theories that are managed by the activity of complementary colors. After-image, the opponent process, and complementary colors are all concepts that Jasper Johns attempts to reveal in his painting, “Flags”. 

The background behind Johns’ painting is intriguing; just a dream is what created his great success as a symbolic, patriotic artist. Johns had a dream one night that he was painting a large American flag, then the next morning he went out and bought the materials to create it. He used large canvases, plywood, newspaper strips, and encaustic paint. The significance that Johns tries to relay to the viewer of his painting is that the American flag suggests complexity and close examination due to the use of these many theories. 

Jasper Johns’ painting is meant to provide a form of hallucination. If you stare at the dot on the green and yellow American flag for long enough, then focus your eye on the black dot in the faded American flag at the bottom of the painting, the true colors in the faded flag will become visible: red, white, and blue. The artist is asking us to reveal our own perception of the image, since everyone sees images differently. After-image is an optical illusion; an optical illusion is “something that deceives the eye by appearing to be other than it is”. Similar to after-image being apparent in the painting, the use of complementary colors are necessary in showing the effect of the optical illusion of the work. The faded American flag image is seen in the complementary colors of the original image's color: red, white, and blue. The concept of combining colors that complement each other together is an idea that Johns tries to make relevant in his painting. 

Complementary colors, or colors that are opposite on the color wheel can create theories in the art of painting. In “Flags” the colors present on the American flag are green, black, and orange. The complements of these colors, red, white, and blue make up the colors of the American flag that people usually recognize. On a color wheel the complements of green, black, and orange are red, white, and blue. The complements of these colors allows after-image to shine in Johns’ painting where the trickery of the art brings out the true colors of the flag. As already explained, complementary colors play an important role in the theories of after-image as well as the opponent process. The use of complementary colors in Jasper Johns’ painting is the forerunner for after-image and the opponent process that become visible or known, as the work is being observed. Using complementary colors supports both the theories of after-image and the opponent process in Jasper Johns painting.

The theory of the opponent process indicates that ones perception of color is controlled by the activity of complementary colors. For example a red-green mechanism would be considered complementary since they are opposite on the color wheel. The point of the opponent process is to use colors that complement one another to present a known object in another context. If Johns were to create a painting with a typical red, white, and blue flag, one could assume that the painting represents an American flag. But, Johns’ use of complementary colors (red and green) instead of the original red and blue, suggests an image past the normal symbol of the American flag. When people recognize the use the opponent process of Johns’ American flag painting they see more than just the symbol; they see an “abstract representation of an abstract symbol of itself that represents abstract concepts” (Carter). Meaning, the painting is presented in in terms of how one portrays the painting. The ideas which describe the painting are symbols, and those symbols represent the concepts in the painting such as the opponent process. The abstract concept of the opponent process allows color vision to arise, which is defined as the ability someone has to distinguish objects based off of color. The significance of the painting is unique in that the theories of after-image, complementary colors, and the opponent process all come together as one to create the optical illusion of Jasper Johns’ painting, “Flags”. 

The patriotic optical illusion of “Flags” by Jasper Johns suggests confusion or trickery to the viewer's eye. The theories of after-image, and the opponent process, as well as the use of complementary colors in the painting all connect in a way that allows the painting to speak to the viewer. These theories are used to determine one’s perception and unique way of observing the painting. The idea that Johns comes into terms with, “things the mind already knows”, is an idea which stems off of people's interpretations of an image. It is meant to make people observe how people think differently, and the things the mind already knows primarily differs from person to person. These concepts such as after-image, the opponent process, complementary colors, as well as the idea of “things the mind already knows”, describe the ways in which Jasper Johns painting “Flags” differs from a typical patriotic painting of an American flag. 

 