Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

One of the most influential artists of the 20^th century, John Baldessari (b. 1931) has created seminal paintings, collages, and installations that stand alone as bastions of postmodernism. He was born in National City, California and educated at the Otis Art Institute and Chouinard Art Institute. In 1966, Baldessari’s singular artistic vision was born with his phototext paintings that blur the distinction between painting and photography, as seen in 8^th and D, National City (1966-1968) and Wrong (1967), the latter currently residing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In the 1970s, Baldessari produced a series of videotapes that serve as “irreverent philosophical inquiries into art and knowledge.” Throughout the 70s and 80s, Baldessari continued to produce photography mixed with painting, often incorporating language with the intent to challenge linguistic meaning and authority. Baldessari has consistently exhibited nationally and internationally, including a major retrospective in 1990 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and a career-spanning exhibit in 2009 at London’s Tate Modern, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art entitled John Baldessari: Pure Beauty. He continues to create art in Venice, California.

Literature:
Avgikos, Jan. “Stating the Obvious.” John Baldessari: National City. Ed. Hugh M. Davies and Andrea Hales. San Diego: Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 1996. 18-21. Print.