john baldessari: pure beauty
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Yesterday I had the amazing experience of walking through a preview of John Baldessari PURE BEAUTY, which chronicles John Baldessari's early work from the 1960s and takes you through the following decades as his themes and techniques developed to the present. As I walked into a room that literally explodes in large scale powerful work from the 1990s, my eye was drawn immediately up to the vibrant red shirt in Tetrad Series: What Was Seen. Lost in the painting, it took me a moment to realize that the artist himself was sitting on a nearby bench, taking in the reactions to his work.
Considered by many Angelinos to be a local art hero, Baldessari has been very involved with LACMA, collaborating on a number of projects including the museum's logo and the inagural work that adorned the opening facade of BCAM when this museum opened. But Baldessari's impact stretches far beyond Los Angeles; he is considered to be one of the most influential Amerian artists working today, who ironically found that it took decades to achieve recognition both in Los Angeles and internationally. Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger have both credited him as an innovator who made their work possible. A long time art professor, Baldessari-trained students include many well known artists such as David Salle and Ross Bleckner. What I most enjoyed about the show is what Baledessari's die-hard fans {many of whom were at the press preview} seem to cherish most--Baldessari's ironic humor evident in so much of his work.
The show begins with some of Baldassari's earliest works, "text and image paintings" from the 1960s, which were created more than one hundred miles from Los Angeles. Married with children, Baldessari taught art in local schools, colleges, and museums to make ends meet at a time when the hipster New York lifestyle of Warhol's Factory was in full swing.
In 1970 Baldessari burned nearly all of the paintings he'd created between 1953 and 1966, and as he explained yesterday, it wasn't so easy finding a funeral home willing to cremate paintings, but he finally found one and it turns out the guy who performed the cremation had studied art.
After his Cremation Project period, he began documenting in a more hands-off period when he used photography and video to record acts and events. This was followed by his color explorations of the 1970s.
Larger scale and more complex work began in the 1980s when Baldessari began using obscure film stills, adding colored dots to conceal the faces in his found images.
The show concludes with Brain/Cloud, {my favorite piece} a massive multimedia installation made for the exhibit that occupies an entire gallery. Part painting, part sculpture Brain/Cloud, like all of Baldessari's work, is open for interpretation.
After press viewed the exhibit, LACMA Museum Director Michael Govan introduced John Baldessari and the show's curators Leslie Jones of LACMA and Jessica Morgan of Tate Modern were on hand to field questions along with the artist. There was a very nice luncheon for the artist, and before leaving, I walked around to the front of the musuem to view the installation created for Pure Beauty--new banners for the Wilshire facade of BCAM featuring a giant nose and ear--familiar themes from Baldessari's work.
The most extensive retrospective to date of Los Angeles-based artist John Baldessari, Pure Beauty will open June 27 and run through September 12, 2010. Previously on view at Tate Modern and Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona Pure Beauty will conclude its tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
LACMA's presentation will be the only West Coast showing. If you'd like to hear the artist discuss his career with exhibition curator Leslie Jones, you can check out CONVERSATIONS WITH ARTISTS: John Baldessari and Leslie Jones on Sunday, June 27 - 2pm BCAM2. Free tickets will be available one hour in advance.
Labels: Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, David Salle, John Baldessari, LACMA, Michael Govan, Pure Beauty, Ross Bleckner
posted by Mary Jo at TrustYourStyle at
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I'm Mary Jo, a handbag designer living in sunny California.
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1 Comments:
Love the "Selling tips"
..that last thing any artist wants to ever think about, or indulge in.
But, it cannot hurt.
I am trying to keep up with the "Bravo" channel's "Work of Art".
Cheers!
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