John Baldessari: 79 and Still Going Strong

John Baldessari, famous for innovation in the field of conceptual art and notorious for the creation much bad modern art, is not only displaying his artwork at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but installing it too. The temporary exhibit that will go until January 9, 2011, is a comprehensive retrospective of his forty years of work; the exhibit ranges from his early work that used paintings as a medium to teach art classes to his work with movie stills and even further to his panting-camera work, providing the viewers with a multimedia experience.

The exhibit opens with a brief description of Baldessari’s life and experiences next to, perhaps, the most important piece of work in all of the artwork filled rooms. The viewer’s eye does not catch the wall text, but rather the large canvas that chronologically lists all of the shows Baldessari has done to date, the most recent being, of course, the retrospective that the viewer is at. This piece is but one example of Baldessari’s social commentary and use of dry irony but invites the viewers into the exhibit and makes them a part of it; suddenly they too are a part of the artwork by bearing witness to its existence and display. However, there is more to it than inviting the audience and providing an ironic comment on the importance society puts on boasting one’s own accomplishments – it gives important background on Baldessari that the wall text didn’t give. While this information might not change the viewer’s opinion of him, it gives one an extra insight into the type of art they are about to see, which is helpful because Baldessari is not the typical Met exhibit.

One of my favorite pieces presented was a photograph-painting piece of a paper clip with the word “and” underneath. There is something about the simplicity of it mixed with artistic irony that it was impossible not to smile. Another fantastic piece in the exhibit is Baldessari’s “Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell.” Instead of creating a piece that would sell, Baldessari posts a list of artistic tips for artists who need to sell work. Once again, his wit shines through as he uses clichés to make a social commentary for the art world. In creating artwork that eschews the mainstream maxims for artwork, Baldessari is making the viewer clear that he is aware of what he is doing; he is not bitter in his work, he is simply creating art that makes a commentary on, highlights and challenges artistic norms.

However, the most meaningful piece was the “Pure Beauty” piece. “Pure Beauty” is not only the name of the artwork (found on the title card directly to the right of the canvas), but it is all the painting says. The straight lettering of the text and the two simple, basic, almost boring colors makes it easy to nearly miss. However, I find this to be the most brilliant of all pieces in the exhibit. Baldessari is, once again, using art to critique its own form. In creating a piece that simply reads “pure beauty,” Baldessari is telling his audience two things; first and most important, there is no such thing as “pure” beauty in art because artistic beauty assumes many forms and means something different to each viewer but also, Baldessari is pointing out the use of the title card to define the artwork and draw attention to the name of the painting while the viewer loses sight of the meaning behind the content within the piece.

This is definitely an exhibit worth visiting before it closes, as there are many more highlights to this show than these three. It is a retrospective packed with social commentary, wit and irony, and is truly an exhibit that asks the viewer to question for himself or herself what art is. By expanding the traditional boundaries of art, Baldessari opens a new world of modern art that makes viewers chuckle. His work, set amidst classical and religious work, encourages people to relax and approach art with a smile, a method that keeps a visitor’s attention span a little better than a room full of Madonna-and-Child paintings.