Although Conceptual artist John Baldessari is best known for the richly provocative juxtapositions of photographic images and text that characterize his prints and paintings, he actually had something of a traditional art world upbringing — if such a thing exists.
Born in Southern California, Baldessari earned several art degrees, from art education to art history to painting. He also taught art at various institutions such as the California Institute of the Arts throughout his life. Among his many students were David Salle, Tony Oursler, Jim Shaw and Mike Kelley. While helping to shape the art world in Los Angeles, he simultaneously developed his own name as an artist.
In the 1950s, Baldessari’s works were primarily semiabstract paintings, but during the late 1960s, he began to distance himself from painting, as he bristled at the idea of limiting art to a single medium. Baldessari decided to take his career in a dramatically different direction. He burned all his paintings at a funeral home in San Diego, then incorporated the ashes into cookie dough, producing (nonedible) baked goods for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
“It was a very public and symbolic act,” he said, “like announcing you’re going on a diet in order to stick to it.”
From that point on, Baldessari took on an MO of experimentation, dabbling in mediums from video to printmaking to sculpture. “I just stare at something and say: Why isn’t that art? Why couldn’t that be art?” he said in an interview in 2008.
The works for which Baldessari is most highly regarded, however, are striking collages of images and text — many of which are seemingly nonsensical — such as Tom’s Hand Grips the Steering, Wheel… (2015), in which the title’s text is displayed beneath a hippopotamus. As such is his body of work: bringing a sense of joviality to the sometimes too-serious world of Conceptual art.
Before he died in 2020, Baldessari was honored with the 2014 National Medal of Arts Award, the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and more.
Find original John Baldessari art on 1stDibs.
Object (with Flaw)
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
Color lithograph in two parts, on two separate sheets of Arches 88 paper, these two sheets comprise two of the four parts of the original "Object (with Flaw)" publication, 1988. One...
Lithograph, Color
Brutus Killed Caesar.
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
BALDESSARI, John. Brutus Killed Caesar. [4] pp. Illustrated with 33 photographic tryptichs. Oblong 8vo., 100 x 275 mm, bound in publisher's spiral-bound wrappers. Preserved in tan cloth box. Akron: The Emily H. Davis Art Gallery of The University of Akron, [1976]. $ 2500.00 First Edition. Printed in a limited edition. The artist John Baldessari juxtaposes three images in a triptych format. Each page repeats the use of the same two portraits: an young man on the left and and an older man on the right. The center image then creates the crucial dialogue between the other two - Baldessari makes use of a variety of objects that could all be used as murder weapons - some a bit more mundane than others: a kitchen knife...
Paper
$850Sale Price|20% Off
H 7.13 in W 5.52 in
Flemish Old Master, Study of Donkey Carriage, 17th Century, Sanguine Drawing
Located in Greven, DE
This drawing shows several studies of a donkey with a carriage. Its style is close to Flemish 17th century artists. On the passepartout one reads "Mathias Scheyer/ Jacob Weyer", both...
Chalk, Handmade Paper
$1,950
H 39 in W 23 in
Damien Hirst Signed Lithograph "The Currency" Contemporary Modern Street Art
By Damien Hirst
Located in Draper, UT
These hand signed lithograph prints were only made available to "HOLDERS" of the Currency prints. Less than 1000 were hand signed by Damien Hirst a...
Lithograph
$1,500
H 24 in W 18 in
Yoshitomo Nara Marching on a Butterbur Leaf Print Contemporary Art
By Yoshitomo Nara
Located in Draper, UT
Edition Details: Year: 2019 Class: Art Print Status: Official Released: 10/01/19 Run: 1,000 Technique: Fine Art Lithograph Paper: 80# archival qual...
Lithograph
$1,500
H 35.99 in W 24.02 in D 0.04 in
Jonas Wood Tennis Court Drawings, 2018 Melbourne Contemporary Show Poster
By Jonas Wood
Located in Draper, UT
"TENNIS COURT DRAWINGS EXHIBITION POSTER" by Jonas Wood Year: 2018 Medium: Poster Dimensions: 91.4 x 61 cm / 36 x 24 in Immerse yourself in the vibrant world of contemporary art wit...
Lithograph
$3,741
H 27.96 in Dm 27.96 in
Sakura and Panda Offset Print, Signed, 21st Century, 202/300
By Takashi Murakami
Located in Bristol, GB
Offset print with silver and high gloss varnishing Edition 202 of 300 71 cm (28 in) Diameter Signed, numbered, dated and titled on the front Excellent, with a soft crease on the left...
Offset, Lithograph
Julie Curtiss Woman In High Heels Print Contemporary Art
Located in Draper, UT
Title Julie Curtiss Woman In High Heels Small Edition Of Only 10 - 17 X 11 Pristine Condition Year 2019 Classification Limited edition Medium Type Print ...
Lithograph
$3,500
H 23.63 in W 15.75 in
ROSE QUARTZ ERODED BUST OF ROME DIVINISÉE, 2020 Produced by Perrotin, Offset
By Daniel Arsham
Located in Draper, UT
Daniel Arsham Rose Quartz Eroded Bust of Rome, Divinisée, 2020 Signed and Numbered (84/150) poster (offset print), published 2021 Daniel Arsham’s Rose Quartz Eroded Bust of Rome, D...
Lithograph
Tracey Emin - My Heart Is with You Always
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
Tracey Emin My Heart is with you Always, 2015 Offset lithograph on silk-finished paper Signed by the artist, on recto 70 x 50 cm Edition of 500 Published by Emin International Trac...
Lithograph, Offset
$2,151Sale Price|35% Off
H 8 in W 12.8 in
Old Master Drawing, Baroque, Jacob de Wit, Allegory of Victory, Putti, Ships
By Jacob De Wit
Located in Greven, DE
Two putti with symbols of war and victory (cannons, cannonballs, armour, anchor, lion's head, laurel branch/ olive branch, flag, staff with helmet) in pediment triangle. Probably a design for a painting or architecture Pen-and-ink drawing in black on brownish paper, black wash Plain gold moulding with UV glass Allegory of Victory, 18th Century, Old Master Drawing, By De Wit, Figurative Jacob de Wit...
Paper, Crayon
Ritratto di Noemi
Located in Mokena, IL
Ritratto di Noemi, 2019 Graphite and White Chalk on Toned Paper, 7 x 10 inches “Ritratto di Noemi”, a captivating portrait, by artist Justas Varp...
Chalk, Handmade Paper, Graphite
Giardino di Rose
Located in Mokena, IL
Giardino di Rose, 2022 Ink on Toned Paper with Frame, 12.25 x 15.25 inches Transporting the viewer to Florence’s sun-lit rose garden, Justas Varpucanskis...
Ink, Handmade Paper
$1,571Sale Price|30% Off
H 9.26 in W 7.29 in
Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch
Located in Greven, DE
Jan van der Heyden (1637 Gorinchem - 1712 Amsterdam), attributed. Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch Westerkerk and Keizersgracht in Amsterdam Backside: later drawn backside with village church of the 18th century Chalk and pen on paper 23,5 x 18,5 cm Preliminary drawing for a painting from the creative period c. 1667 - 1670. This painting has been published a few years ago by Peter C. Sutton in the catalogue raisonné of the artist. Van der Heyden was initially a pupil of a glass painter, but later turned exclusively to architectural painting and went to Amsterdam, where he painted views of churches, castles, palaces, public squares, streets, canals, etc., most of which are richly decorated with staffage. In addition, van der Heyden was also active as an inventor, for example, he developed a street lighting system for Amsterdam by means of oil street lamps, which was in operation from 1669 to 1840. After a stay in London, he painted the London fire of 1666, which he either witnessed himself or had seen the consequences of. Certainly influenced by this, he did much to further the technical and organisational development of the fire brigade from 1669 onwards. His greatest invention was probably the fire hose, which enabled significant improvements in fire-fighting technology and tactics. He also improved the hand-operated fire engines of the time by making them smaller, more mobile and more powerful, and he developed the series connection of several pumps to increase the pressure in order to achieve a greater range for the water jet. In 1690, together with his son, he was the author and illustrator of the Brandspuiten-boek, the first manual for fire fighting. Johann Lingelbach, Adriaen van de Velde and Eglon van der Neer...
Paper, Chalk
BALDESSARI. Choosing: Green Beans
By John Baldessari
Located in New York, NY
BALDESSARI, John. Choosing: Green Beans. Title-page and [2] ff. text. Illustrated with 9 colour photographic plates. 4to., 295 x 200 mm, bound in printed wrappers, in a new green and...
John Baldessari 1994 Painted Art Plate
By John Baldessari
Located in Surfside, FL
John Anthony Baldessari (born June 17, 1931) is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice, California Initially a painter, Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960s. In 1970 he began working in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture and photography. He has created thousands of works that demonstrate—and, in many cases, combine—the narrative potential of images and the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art. His art has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His work influenced Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and Barbara Kruger among others. Baldessari was born in National City, California to Hedvig Jensen, a Danish nurse, and Antonio Baldessari, an Italian salvage...