John Baldessari, Kissing Series:Simone Palm Trees (Near), 1975
‘John Baldessari: Pure Beauty’, at the LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)presents ‘John Baldessari: Pure Beauty’, the most extensive retrospective todate of Los Angeles-based artist John Baldessari (b. 1931), on view June27 to September 12, 2010]]>
Source: LACMA
Based in Los Angeles since 1970, Baldessari is one of the most influentialartists of his generation. His text and image paintings from the mid-1960sare widely recognized as among the earliest examples of conceptual art,while his 1980s photo compositions derived from film stills rank aspivotal to the development of appropriation art and other practices thataddress the social and cultural impact of mass culture. His continuinginterest in language, both written and visual, has been at the forefrontof both his work and teaching, through which, for more than thirty years,he has nurtured and influenced succeeding generations of artists,including David Salle, Cindy Sherman, and Barbara Kruger among others.With humor and irony, Baldessari dissects the ideas underlying artisticpractice and questions the historically accepted rules of how to make art.The combination of photography, painting, and references to film hasbecome one of the key elements in his work. Beginning with his littleknownpaintings from the early 1960s, the exhibition features the landmarkphoto and text works from 1966-68, photocompositions derived from filmsstills of the 1980s, irregularly shaped and over-painted works of the1990s, as well as video and artist books. The show concludes with his mostrecent work, which includes a special multimedia installation conceivedfor the retrospective.
In the 1960s, Baldessari notably painted statements derived fromcontemporary art theory and instructional manuals onto canvas. These earlymajor works, such as Wrong (1966–68, LACMA) and Tips for Artists Who Wantto Sell (1966–68), will be on view. In 1970 Baldessari cremated nearlyall the paintings he had created between 1953 and 1966. CremationProject was both a public renunciation of painting and the beginning ofBaldessari’s more documentary, hands-off approach to art making, in whichhe used photography and video to record acts and events. His strategiesembraced chance and accident, and included gameplaying, as in Choosing (AGame for Two Players): Carrots (1971), or seemingly pointless tasks, as inThe Artist Hitting Various Objects with a Golf Club (1972–73). During the‘70s, Baldessari also began to use cinematic tools of the script andstoryboard as means to restructure conventional notions of narrative.
Baldessari’s work of the past two decades has continued to explore therelationship between imagery and language, as in the Goya Series (1997),as well as the social and cultural impact of mass media imagery, throughhis ongoing use of altered film stills and other photographic imagery.Recently the artist has added dimension to his works, employing raised andrecessed surfaces, as well as more color, which enhances the allusion topainting. Of particular note is Brain-Cloud (2009)—made specially for theexhibition—a multimedia installation involving photography, castsculpture, and video that occupies an entire gallery and concludes theshow.
John Baldessari: Pure Beauty is curated by Leslie Jones, associate curatorof prints and drawings, LACMA, and Jessica Morgan, curator of contemporaryart, Tate Modern, and assisted by Kerryn Greenberg, assistant curator,Tate Modern. Prior to LACMA’s presentation, the exhibition was on view atTate Modern (October 13, 2009–January 20, 2010) and Museu d’ArtContemporani de Barcelona (February 11–April 25, 2010). Following itsshowing at LACMA, Pure Beauty will conclude its tour at the MetropolitanMuseum of Art, New York (October 20, 2010–January 9, 2011). The exhibitionis accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with essays by majorwriters, curators, art historians, and former students of Baldessari.
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