“Flags” is a work painted by Jasper Johns. Most of Johns’ paintings consist of American flags, or some sort of patriotic notion, which include unique concepts 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 by 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 to after-image, the opponent process is a concept in Johns’ work which is the idea that there are three pairs of sensory reactions; green-red, yellow-blue and black-white. When the eye uses the process of after-image, the color green changes to red, yellow changes to blue, and black changes to white. When after-image and the opponent process take place, these opposite colors show through the image. Meaning, when these process occur to Johns’ painting “Flags”, the colors of the American flag will appear: red, white, and blue. Both the concepts of after-image and the opponent process 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. Using after-image, the opponent process, and complementary colors in Johns’ painting, “Flags”, allows the viewer to get a sense of optical illusion and the way he uses techniques to trick the eye in his work. 

The background behind Johns’ painting is intriguing; 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. The significance that Johns tries to relay to the viewer in his painting is that the American flag suggests complexity and close examination from the viewer due to his use of theories such as after-image, the opponent process, and complementary colors to create an optical illusion and trick the eye.

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” (Oxford Dictionary). This optical illusion reveals a singular perspective where all viewers of this painting are able to identify the same illusion; the colors of the painting change colors to become a red, white, and blue American flag. 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. A singular perspective is revealed in this optical illusion because of the use of complementary colors. When colors that complement each other are presented as an optical illusion, most of the time all viewers will come into terms with the same concept, revealing a singular perspective of the painting. 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, allow viewers perceiving the color create theories in paintings. 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. 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 Johns’ painting.

The technique of the opponent process indicates that one’s 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 opposite of the original 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). This means, the painting is presented in in terms of how one portrays the painting. The ideas that describe the painting are symbols, and those symbols represent the techniques in the painting such as the opponent process. The abstract technique 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 techniques of after-image, complementary colors, and the opponent process all come together 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 techniques 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. The nature behind these ideas are as follows. The idea of after-image in present in the painting, and in order to create after-image, the use of complementary colors must occur. During after-image, colors that complement each other (which are determined by the opponent process) begin to appear as a part of the optical illusion.  These techniques 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 techniques outline the ways in which Jasper Johns painting “Flags” differs from a traditional patriotic painting of an American flag. The nature of these American flags is the difference in color. The colors in a traditional American flag are red, white, and blue. In contrast, the colors in Johns’ painting are green, black, and orange. The properties of this difference is affected by the techniques Johns uses where after-image, complementary colors, the opponent process, are prevalent in the painting.

 