J.B.

Six Colorful Gags (Male), 1991
Photogravure With Color Aquatint and Spit Bite Aquatint

"It is only when you have been painting for quite some time that you will begin to realize that your compositions seem to lack impact--that they are too ordinary..."

I am at that point, now I'm breaking all the rules. I will not make any more boring art! Dear John Baldessari, you are right about everything!


A major figure in contemporary art; John Baldessari is internationally renowned as a conceptual artist, one of the founders and innovators of conceptual art. Baldessari began incorporating images and texts in his photo-based art, he appropriated pictures from advertising and movie stills, juxtaposing, editing, and cropping them in conjunction with written texts. Photographs, text, and spots of color are the frequent starting points for his work, and these simple devices uncover the visual and ideological mechanics of how an artwork directs a viewer’s eye and thoughts.His work often attempts to point out irony in contemporary art theory and practices or reduce it to absurdity. Baldessari’s wit and humor bring levity and self-reflection to these important proceedings, his works have contributed to the definition of postmodern art.

Baldessari produced a series of videotapes in which he conducted ironic investigations into perception, meaning and interpretation. With a cunning reliance on misrecognition and misinformation, he uses irony and incongruity to exploit the gap between what is heard, what is seen, and what is understood.



Official website here