John Baldessari

John Baldessari (United States, 1931–2020) initially trained as a painter, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State College in 1953 and a master’s degree in 1957. He also pursued advanced studies in art history at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postgraduate work at the Chouinard Art Institute and the University of California, Los Angeles.

His artistic practice formed part of the Conceptual art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and drew on Symbolism, Dada, and Surrealism. His work investigated the structure of language and the tensions and new meanings generated through the interplay of text and photographic imagery. He conceived of the artwork as a mental process, often realized through anonymous or found photographs and film stills.

His work was featured in more than 300 solo exhibitions and over 1,000 group exhibitions across the United States and Europe, including the retrospective Learning to Read with John Baldessari at Museo Jumex in Mexico City (2017). His numerous awards and distinctions included the National Medal of Arts (2014), the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, the City of Goslar’s Kaiserring Prize (2012), the BACA International Award (2008), an award from the International Print Center New York (2016), the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, and honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland, San Diego State University, and the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. His oeuvre has also been documented in the catalogue raisonné published by Yale University Press. Leer menos