John Baldessari : A loving look back at the titan of conceptual art
by Hope Ezcurra
1. John Baldessari famously burnt two decades worth of work at a local crematorium. The next five decades after that, until his death in January 2020, Baldessari tested the structure of art, images, and language.
2. My personal favorite of Baldessari’ artistic output is Tips For Artists Who Want To Sell, (1966-68); I really connect with the droll humor of the text, while respecting the piece as a major piece of California conceptual art.
3. Aside from being an incredibly important artist, he was also a well respected educator and taught at CalArts from 1970 to 1988 and then at UCLA from 1996-2007. A list of 14 assignments he gave his Post Studio Art class at CalArts in 1970 are available at:
4. “A Brief History of John Baldessari '' is the best short art doc you can watch on youtube, bonus it is narrated by Tom Waits:
5. Blue was his favorite color.
6. “That word 'funny' always makes me feel uncomfortable. Because if I were trying to be funny, I would be something like Bill Wegman - he really tries to be funny. I don't try to be funny. It's just that I feel the world is a little bit absurd and off-kilter, and I'm sort of reporting..”-John Baldessari
