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
$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
Love Is What You Want
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
2015 Offset lithographic poster 70 x 50 cm Edition of 500 Hand signed by Emin Published by Emin International Tracey Emin (born 1963) is best known for her intimate, authentic, auto...
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
$20,860
H 25.5 in W 20 in D 2 in
Hand of Africa - Mandela, Former South African President, Signed Artwork, Hand
By Nelson Mandela
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, Hand of Africa, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for his ...
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
I Promise To Love You
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
2014 Colour offset lithograph on 250 gsm glossy wove paper 70 x 50 cm Edition of 500 Signed and dated in pen by Tracey Emin Published by Emin International Stored in its original tub...
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
$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
$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
$10,430
H 19.69 in W 22.05 in D 1.58 in
Artist Motivation - Mandela, Former South African President, Inspirational Words
By Nelson Mandela
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, Artist's Motivation, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for his family. He spent time with an art tutor and learnt to draw. In 2002, when creating the The Motivation print, he told Anna and Laura from Belgravia Gallery of his desire to become a full time artist when he retired. This artwork is a handwritten Artist’s Motivation by Nelson Mandela and reads: “Today when I look at Robben Island I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit, rather than as a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. Robben Island is a place where courage endured in the face of endless hardship, a place where people kept on believing when it seemed their dreams were hopeless and a place where wisdom and determination overcame fear and human frailty. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls, held back by prison bars...
Lithograph
$10,430
H 15.75 in W 20.08 in D 1.58 in
The Tennis Court - Mandela, South African President, Signed, Robben Island, sport
By Nelson Mandela
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, The Tennis Court, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for hi...
Lithograph
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
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
$600
H 16 in W 13 in
Arizona Centennial First Day Issue Stamps and Envelope, autographed by Ed Mell
By Ed Mell
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Ed Mell 1942-2024 Original signatures on stamps and envelope. Custom presentation frame. Arizona Centennial Commemorative Stamp, Arizona First Day of Issue by Ed Mell, 1942-2024. C...
Postcard
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...