Three dimensional digital archival print with acrylic aint on Sintra, Dibond and Gatorfoam panels, 84 x 75" John Baldessari The exhibition will consist of two interrelated series, the single-panel "windows" and the stack-pieces or "columns", in which John Baldessari continues his investigation into the relationship between painting and photography by, as the artist said, "upping the ante". In the "windows", Baldessari employs an unprecedented large scale and thus he explicitly stakes a claim to the tradition of history painting of past centuries, as well as to modernist abstraction. According to the artist, the ideal goal was to make the work a hybrid between painting and photography. The predominantly black and white images, drawn from what seem to be generic Hollywood films from the 50's and 60's are partially over-painted with a saturated orange: "The orange shapes replace objects and figures, etc. in the photographs. What is painted is determined by the shapes in the photograph... The windows are single images and attempt to show more discord than accord," Baldessari has stated. "The idea I wish to convey is that civilization (harmony) is a thin veneer and rust (discord) never sleeps. Security is what is wanted, but disruption is nearby". The "columns", in contrast, are comprised of stacks of individually-framed images that reiterate a wide range of single subjects - ranging from ropes, through suitcases, to women's eyes. The operative principle here is sequence and seriality. What interests Baldessari is what happens in-between, between things and ideas, the "voids and silences, ... the uncomfortable-ness of somewhere between". "'For most of us photography stands for the truth," Baldessari has said. "But a good artist can make a harder truth by manipulating forms or pushing paint around. It fascinates me how I can manipulate the truth so easily by the way I juxtapose opposites or crop the image or take it out of context. When two forces contend in a photograph, I may favor one side or the other - the rider or the horse, for example, the upright mummy in its coffin or the woman standing in awe next to it". (in John Baldessari, 1990, Rizzoli, by Coosje van Bruggen) John Baldessari was born in National City, California in 1931, and has lived in Santa Monica since 1970. He received a B.A. from San Diego State College in 1953, and an M.A. in 1957, and studied at the U.C., Berkeley (1954-55); UCLA (1955); the Otis Art Institute (1957-59); and Chouinard Art Institute. In October 2004 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also been the recipient of many awards including an Honorary Ph.D., San Diego State University, San Diego, California (June 2003); the Spectrum International Award for Photography of the Foundation of Lower Saxony (1999); the College Art Association Award (1999); the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, California (1997); and the Oscar Kokoschka Prize, Austria (1996). The Marian Goodman Gallery has represented John Baldessari since early 2002. Exhibition: November 17, 2004 - January 8, 2005 Gallery hours: Mon-Sat 10 am - 6 pm Marian Goodman Gallery 24 West 57th Street USA-New York 10019, NY Telephone +1 212 977 71 60 Fax +1 212 581 51 87 Email: goodman@mariangoodman.com www.mariangoodman.com |
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