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27/2/2015

John Baldessari

Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris

Marian Goodman Gallery, London and Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris are pleased to present two simultaneous exhibitions by John Baldessari. Pictures & Scripts, at the London gallery will present a series of new works, the artists first solo exhibition in London since his retrospective Pure Beauty at Tate Modern in 2009. Concurrently at Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, Early Work will show for the first time a refined selection of important early works from Baldessari’s practice.

Early Work at the Paris gallery comprises examples from most of Baldessari’s major series; National City, Commissioned Painting, Thaumatrope, Strobe/Futurist, Portrait and Goya series, each giving a unique overview of the breadth and development of his practice. Some of the work on display, including Study for Econ-O-Wash (Version B) , 1967 have rarely been exhibited since their creation.

Bird #1, 1962, the earliest work in the exhibition, presents an image of a bird falling through the picture plane. Again, an early example of Baldessari’s use of cropping for dramatic effect, the bird has been cut in such a cinematic way as to suggest its falling through the air. Bird #1 belongs to a small group of paintings that escaped destruction, when on July 24 1970 Baldessari decided to ceremoniously cremate 125 works, including many oil paintings, made between 1953 and 1966.

Following Baldessari’s seminal statement “I will not make any more boring Art”, he conceived the work The Artist Hitting Various Objects with a Golf Club, 1972-73, composed of 30 photographs of the artist swinging and hitting with a golf club objects excavated from a dump, as a parody of cataloging rather than a thorough straight classification.

Portrait: Various Identities Hidden With Name/Date Cards, 1974 echoes the work Portrait: Artist’s Identity Hidden with Various Hats, 1974, a work in the collection of LACMA, Los Angeles, which illustrates the recurrence of portraits with faces obscured by domestic objects or spots of varying colours. For Baldessari faces dominate our interaction and communication and “If art is a mystery, then the face is a betrayer and should be hidden”.

Art historical references appear throughout John Baldessari’s practice, as evidenced by the works The Mondrian Story (Version # 2) , 1972-73 and Strobe Series/Futurist: False Bird Path Of Flight (For Balla) #2, 1975. Included in Early Work is a painting from the Goya Series; Goya Series: THIS, THAT, OR THE OTHER, 1997 in which we see black and white images of everyday objects; a paper clip, bouquet of flowers, and apple, juxtaposed with titles taken from The Disasters of War the 82 prints created between 1810 – 1820 by Francisco Goya.

John Baldessari was born in 1931 in National City, California; he lives and works in Santa Monica, California. His work was included in the 47th Venice Biennale (1997) and 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) where he won the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Carnegie International (1985-86), the Whitney Biennial (1983), as well as the Documenta V (1972) and VII (1982). In 2005, an extensive, two-part retrospective was dedicated to the artist at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna and at the Kunsthaus Graz, Graz. Recently the artist has presented his works in solo exhibitions at the Fondazione Prada, Milan (2010) and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2011). Baldessari’s work was the subject of the major retrospective, Pure Beauty, which retraced his career from 1962 to 2010. Organised by Tate Modern, London, the exhibition travelled to MACBA, Barcelona; LACMA, Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from 2010-2011.

John Baldessari has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the 2012 Kaiserring Award by the city of Goslar, Germany; in 2008 he received the Biennial Award for Contemporary Art from the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht.

Image: John Baldessari

Press Contact: raphaele@mariangoodman.com

Opening: Saturday 28 February 6.00 – 8.00pm

Marian Goodman Gallery
79 Rue du Temple

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday, 10AM - 6PM

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