birth
National City, United States, 17-6-1931
death
Los Angeles, United States, 2-1-2020
last update
19-03-2024
John Baldessari (National City, California, 1931) lived and worked in Santa Monica, California. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the San Diego State College (now the San Diego State University), the University of California, Berkeley, the Otis College of Art and Design and the Institute of Chouinard Art, Los Angeles. Baldessari was one of the most influential American artists of the second half of the twentieth century and had pursued multiple directions. In the mid-sixties, he began to incorporate text, words and pictures into his paintings, making him one of the pioneers of Conceptual art. During the seventies, he produced films, videos, installations, sculpture and photography. And in the eighties, his photographic compositions with borrowed film material initiated what is now known as artistic ‘appropriation’.
His work is characterised by a keen awareness of language – which he derived from the Structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss – and the incorporation of images from popular culture. Unlike other Conceptual artists, Baldessari shows a sharp sense of humour. Despite the apparent simplicity of his images, these contain multiple connotations and offer an incisive analysis of mass culture. Among the many exhibitions in art centres in Europe and America, he has had retrospectives at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, IVAM, Valencia (1989), Kunsthaus Graz (2005), MoMA, New York (2010), Tate Modern, London, and MACBA, Barcelona (2010). His work was included in the Venice Biennale (1997), the Carnegie International (1985–86), the Whitney Biennial (1983) and Documenta, Kassel (1972 and 1982).
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works
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![[5199_002_rgb / Imatge] Dwarf and Rhinoceros (With Large Black Shape)](https://d2zy2h1755x359.cloudfront.net/public/DigitalAsset/267588/f7314bc8b8edc2f0da427386ce4059f6/full/large/0/default.jpg)
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documents
42 results
Nose peak / John Baldessari
document
2015
Dwarf and Rhinoceros (With Large Black Shape) With Story Called Lamb / Baldessari [Enregistrament audiovisual obra de Col·lecció instal·lada]
document
2015
John Baldessari, Barbara Bloom
document
2011
Conversa entre John Baldessari i Bartomeu Marí [Enregistrament audiovisual activitat]
document
11-2-2010
John Baldessari. Pura bellesa [Reportatge fotogràfic exposició]
document
11-2-2010 - 25-4-2010
John Baldessari. Pura bellesa [Enregistrament audiovisual exposició]
document
11-2-2010 - 25-4-2010
Son[i]a #97. Podcast amb John Baldessari [Publicació sonora sense editar]
document
10-2-2010
Brutus killed Caesar [reproducció d'un full] / John Baldessari
document
2010
Parse / John Baldessari ; [editor, Beatrix Ruf]
document
2010
Miracle chips guaranteed fresh / John Baldessari
document
2009
John Baldessari : raised eyebrows/furrowed foreheads
document
2009
John Baldessari : raised eyebrows/furrowed foreheads
document
2009
Conceptualisme i abjecció. Cap a altres genealogies de l'art conceptual. Debat en el context de la Col·lecció Herbert [Enregistrament audiovisual activitat]
document
8-2-2006
Prima facie: Marilyn's dress : a poem (in four parts) / John Baldessari
document
2006
[John Baldessari : Galerie Marian Goodman]
document
2002
[John Baldessari : Galerie Marian Goodman]
document
2002
Brown and Green and Other Parables
document
2001
Brown and green and other parables
document
2001
The metaphor problem : again / words John Baldessari ; pictures Lawrence Weiner
document
1999
The metaphor problem : again / words John Baldessari ; pictures Lawrence Weiner
document
1999
Tele dolça llar & Baldessari [Reportatge fotogràfic exposició]
document
16-7-1998 - 27-9-1998
Tele dolça llar & Baldessari [Enregistrament audiovisual exposició]
document
16-7-1998 - 27-9-1998
John Baldessari : the Goya series
document
[1998]
John Baldessari : the Goya series
document
[1998]
Zorro / John Baldessari
document
1998
Lamb = Cordero / [images by John Baldessari, story by Meg Cranston]
document
1993
The telephone book : (with pearls) / John Baldessari
document
1988
Close-cropped tales / John Baldessari
document
1981
John Baldessari : recent work
document
1978
John Baldessari : recent work
document
1978
Fable : a sentence of thirteen parts (with twelve alternate verbs) ending in fable / John Baldessari
document
1977
Baldessari : recent work
document
1976
Four events and reactions / John Baldessari
document
1975
Throwing a ball once to get three melodies and fifteen chords / John Baldessari
document
1975
CAYC : Ingres y otras parabolas
document
[1974]
John Baldessari
document
[1973]
Throwing three balls in the air to get a straight line : (best of thirty-six attempts) / John Baldessari
document
1973
Deurle 11/7/73
document
1973
John Baldessari
document
[1973]
Choosing: green beans / John Baldessari
document
1972
Ingres : and other parables / John Baldessari
document
1971
Art cremation piece / John Baldessari
document
[1970]