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Artist a Day: John Baldessari

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John Baldessari (1931-2020)

John Anthony Baldessari was a conceptual artist from America recognized for his art featuring encountered photography and appropriated images. Initially a painter, Baldessari began incorporating texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960s. He was based in Santa Monica and Venice, California.

Fox: Maquette for the Elbow Series (B1)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art,1999

John`s Works

He started teaching at CalArts in 1986, but it didn't work out, and he moved on to UCLA. He taught there until 2008.

Hog: Maquette for the Elbow Series (A1)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art, 1999

John`s Works

Baldessari is most famous for his work that takes stills of films, changes their form, and adds new pictures to them. Meanwhile, he also creates line drawings and text mixed with color photographs.

Pig: Maquette for the Elbow Series (A3)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art,1999

John`s Works

His Wrong series (1966-1968) was related to his early text paintings, which put together photographic pictures with text sequences from an unskillful photography book, seeking to violate a set of basic "rules" on snapshot composition.

Prima Facie (Fifth State)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art,2006

John`s Works

“I could never figure out why photography and art had separate histories. So I decided to explore both.” -John Baldessari

The Fallen Easel

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, 1988

John`s Works

In one work, Baldessari had himself photographed in front of a palm tree to appear that the tree was growing out of his head.

Flying Saucer and Cloud (Blue)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art

John`s Works

His photographic California Map Project (1969) created physical forms that resembled the letters in "California" geographically near to the very spots on the map where they were printed.

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Ass: Maquette for the Elbow Series (A2)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art,1999

John`s Works

The Binary Code Series is a type of work where Baldessari uses images to represent binary code. For example, one picture shows a woman holding a cigarette up to her mouth, while another photo of the same woman shows her dropping it.

Money, with Space Between

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Figurative, Conceptual Art, Pop Art,1994

John`s Works

The Binary Code Series is a type of work where Baldessari uses images to represent binary code. For example, one picture shows a woman holding a cigarette up to her mouth, while another photo of the same woman shows her dropping it.

Box (Blind Fate & Culture)

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Figurative, Conceptual Art

John`s Works

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