2017
Although Conceptual artist John Baldessari is best known for the richly provocative juxtapositions of photographic images and text that characterize his prints and paintings, he actually had something of a traditional art world upbringing — if such a thing exists.
Born in Southern California, Baldessari earned several art degrees, from art education to art history to painting. He also taught art at various institutions such as the California Institute of the Arts throughout his life. Among his many students were David Salle, Tony Oursler, Jim Shaw and Mike Kelley. While helping to shape the art world in Los Angeles, he simultaneously developed his own name as an artist.
In the 1950s, Baldessari’s works were primarily semiabstract paintings, but during the late 1960s, he began to distance himself from painting, as he bristled at the idea of limiting art to a single medium. Baldessari decided to take his career in a dramatically different direction. He burned all his paintings at a funeral home in San Diego, then incorporated the ashes into cookie dough, producing (nonedible) baked goods for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
“It was a very public and symbolic act,” he said, “like announcing you’re going on a diet in order to stick to it.”
From that point on, Baldessari took on an MO of experimentation, dabbling in mediums from video to printmaking to sculpture. “I just stare at something and say: Why isn’t that art? Why couldn’t that be art?” he said in an interview in 2008.
The works for which Baldessari is most highly regarded, however, are striking collages of images and text — many of which are seemingly nonsensical — such as Tom’s Hand Grips the Steering, Wheel… (2015), in which the title’s text is displayed beneath a hippopotamus. As such is his body of work: bringing a sense of joviality to the sometimes too-serious world of Conceptual art.
Before he died in 2020, Baldessari was honored with the 2014 National Medal of Arts Award, the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and more.
Find original John Baldessari art on 1stDibs.
Yogurt
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: Yogurt Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82.5 x 71.1 cm) ...
Screen
Adam Wasn't Into It
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: Adam Wasn't Into It Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82....
Screen
Truffle Butter
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: Truffle Butter Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82.5 x 7...
Screen
I Have an Elephant
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: I Have an Elephant Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82.5...
Screen
Best Men
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: Best Men Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82.5 x 71.1 cm...
Screen
Cavalry
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: John Baldessari Title: Cavalry Year: 1986 Medium: Etching with aquatint on Rives B.F.K paper Sheet: 29 3/4 x 22 inches (75.56 x 55.88 cm) Edition: 35; signed, numbered and da...
Etching, Aquatint
Object (with Flaw)
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
Color lithograph in two parts, on two separate sheets of Arches 88 paper, these two sheets comprise two of the four parts of the original "Object (with Flaw)" publication, 1988. One...
Lithograph, Color
Signed John Baldessari print 1991 (Baldessari Love and Work)
By John Baldessari
Located in NEW YORK, NY
John Baldessari Love and Work 1991: Baldessari’s Love & Work 1991, photogravure and color aquatint, features clasped hands clutching surrealistically amidst a black background. Classic, timeless Baldessari imagery that is sure to work well in any setting. Medium: Color photogravure and aquatint on wove paper. 1991. Dimensions: 26 x 11.5 inches. Well-preserved and in very good overall condition. Framed in acrylic plexiglass. One of the 15 numbered artist's proofs, aside from the general edition of 60. Signed, inscribed "A.P." and numbered 12/15 in pencil, lower margin. Published by Brooke Alexander, Inc., New York. Collections: MoMa New York John Baldessari: It is hard to characterize John Baldessari's varied practice—which includes photomontage, artist’s books, prints, paintings, film, performance, and installation—except through his approach of good-humored irreverence. Baldessari is commonly associated with Conceptual or Minimalist art, though he has called this characterization “a little bit boring.” His two-dimensional works often incorporate found images, composed in layers or presented as distinct pieces with an element of surprise, like a brightly colored geometric shape in the place of a face or a starkly printed sardonic caption. Baldessari has demonstrated a lasting interest in language and semantics, articulating these concerns through the use of puns or the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated images and words, as in his 1978 work Blasted Allegories. His self-referencing photomontages and use of text have been sources of inspiration for countless artists, including Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and Barbara Kruger. Baldessari identifies his own artistic lineage, saying, "I would prefer to go to the source with Duchamp rather than credit Warhol as an influence." Related Categories: Surrealist. Ed Ruscha. Los Angeles. Conceptual art. Photography. Minimalist. John Baldessari prints.
Aquatint, Photogravure, Lithograph, Screen
Hegel's Cellar Portfolio
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
It is hard to characterize John Baldessari’s varied practice—which includes photomontage, artist’s books, prints, paintings, film, performance, and installation—except through his ap...
Etching
White Truffle Soup
By John Baldessari
Located in San Francisco, CA
John Baldessari Sonnabend Gallery 1981 (announcement)
By John Baldessari
Located in NEW YORK, NY
John Baldessari, Sonnabend Gallery New York 1981: Rare early 1980s John Baldessari exhibition announcement published on the occasion of: "Shape Derived from Subject (Snake): Used as ...
Lithograph, Offset
National City 1
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
1 from a series of 8 color photographs with acrylic paint
Mixed Media
