John Baldessari
Educated in the language of Abstract Expressionism, in 1970 Baldessari burnt the paintings he had created before 1966 and put their ashes in an urn. The symbolic rejection of producing art characterized by the gesture of the artist was extended to his subsequent production, which placed him among the most important exponents of Conceptual Art. Consequently, Baldessari positioned at the center of his research the essential idea of art, and each of his works can be considered an investigation aimed at exploring the concrete reality of art. In ironic accord with his activity as a professor at the most prestigious universities of California, in his works the artist uses seemingly didactic tones that underline the arbitrary relationship between meaning and signifier.
In the late sixties he began employing photography, using it simply to directly record visual data or as an element from which to extract paintings of a purely factual nature. This is the case of the paintings depicting the daily urban landscapes of southern California—taken from snapshots—that include writings executed by commercial sign and billboard painters, hired especially for the job. In some cases, language remains the only visual element used by the artist and the information given with the writings is transmitted with an ironic intention.
His ability to question the mechanisms leading to the creation of meaning also places Baldessari among the protagonists of eighties art. In adopting the Post-Modern practice of drawing on the most disparate visual information, he produces numerous photographic works that are based on juxtaposition, collage, thereby making the most of the mechanism of binary opposition.
Following an important aspect of Marcel Duchamp’s legacy, Baldessari gives considerable space to humor and irony, components at play in his videos of the early seventies. Since he is often the only protagonist, he uses both his person and his voice as neutral instruments, keeping a detached and impassive approach, seemingly immune to all emotion. This aloofness, displayed in paradoxical situations, as when he teaches the alphabet to a plant in a vase, produces a humorous comment, whose subject is the very language of Conceptual Art. [M.B.]
Folding Hat, 1970–1971
video, black and white, sound, 29 min. 48 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
In handling a man’s hat, the artist tries to free it of its quiddity—its “hatness”—though in vain.
4 Short Films, 1971
transferred from 16 mm film, color, silent, 5 min. 52 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Without sound, these films present four consecutive frames: the juxtaposition of an hour-glass and a thermometer; the close-up of two small portable mirrors handled in such a way as to reflect light; three glasses; a few containers of colored pigments.
Art Disaster, 1971
video, black and white, sound, 32 min. 40 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The expression “Art Disaster” appears on a newspaper snippet the artist pins to a wall. Below, he arbitrarily juxtaposes a series of different images, thereby creating a sort of narration.
I Am Making Art, 1971
video, black and white, sound, 18 min. 40 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The artist carries out a series of slight movements with his body and repeats the sentence “I am making art.” The result is an ironic reference to Body Art of the period.
I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971
video, black and white, sound, 13 min. 06 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The promise to not make boring art any longer is put on paper in the form of a sequence of hand-written sentences. The assertion is denied by the repetitive actions.
Baldessari Sings LeWitt, 1972
video, black and white, sound, 15 min.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Declaring he wants to pay tribute to an important protagonist of Conceptual Art, Baldessari uses some phrases by Sol LeWitt to sing melodies of commercial songs, which, sung in this way, detract from the seriousness of Conceptual Art paradigms and take on unexpected meanings.
Xylophone, 1972
video, black and white, sound, 25 min. 38 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
In alluding to the coldness of Conceptual Art language, the artist uses a series of images for children, continuing to repeat the name of the object or the animal represented. The monotony of the voice and the repetition transform the words into a sort of empty lullaby.
Title, 1972
transferred from 16 mm film, black and white, color, sound, 25 min.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Consecutive images without any hierarchy or recognizable order highlight the elements that construct a traditional film. The video camera frames objects, persons, and landscapes, proposing the deconstruction of possible narrative interweavings through a sequence of almost immobile images and sounds isolated from their context.
Teaching a Plant the Alphabet, 1972
video, black and white, sound, 18 min. 40 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Almost as if it were a small schoolboy, a houseplant is taught alphabet sounds and forms.
The Meaning of Various Photographs to Ed Henderson, 1973
video, black and white, sound, 15 min.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Baldessari subjects his acquaintance Ed Henderson to a sort of test in which he asks him to decipher photographs taken from newspapers. In having removed possible captions and traces of the context, the artist demonstrates the fluctuating relationship between an image and its meaning.
The Way We Do Art Now and Other Sacred Tales, 1973
video, black and white, sound, 28 min. 28 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Baldessari assembles a series of brief episodes regarding situations in which the words or the images do not correspond to the meaning or which underline the arbitrary nature of the language.
Three Feathers and Other Fairy Tales, 1973
video, black and white, sound, 31 min. 15 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Seated on a chair in front of the camera, the artist reads six stories dealing with themes of unconscious fears and desires.
Script, 1974
transferred from 16 mm film, black and white, sound, 50 min. 25 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The video presents a sequence of ten short scenes taken at random from a few commercial films. The protagonists are seven couples of non-professional actors (at the time Baldessari’s students). The video presents the written description of the scenes, the performances, and a selection of the ten best sequences.
The Italian Tape, 1974
video, black and white, sound, 8 min. 33 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
Baldessari writes a series of sentences in English and their respective Italian translations on a blackboard, using bits of dialogue published in a guide to Rome. In taking these out of their original context, the sentences seem to be addressed to the observer and, at times, allude to the relationship between the viewer and the work of art.
Four Minutes of Trying to Tune Two Glasses (For the Phil Glass Sextet), 1976
video, black and white, sound, 4 min. 09 sec.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The artist tries to adapt the sound of two glasses containing water to the ticking of minutes by a clock whose alarm is set to twelve o’clock. The title is a pun that involves the well-known composer Philip Glass.
6 Colorful Inside Jobs, 1977
transferred from 16 mm film, color, silent, 30 min.
Purchased with the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo
The artist paints a canvas that during the film becomes an ever-changing monochrome painting. Each painting corresponds to a day of the week, thus making the film a disenchanted and ironic reflection on the relationship between daily life and creative process.