| Artist: | John Baldessari |
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|---|---|---|
| Title: | Examining Pictures | |
| Date: | 1967-1968 | |
| Nationality: | American | |
| Context: | Conceptual Art | |
| Movement: | ||
| Materials: | ||
| Subject: Baldessari questions pictures; read the title literally--the concept of pictures is what is being examined here. He asks, "What do pictures consist of? What are they all about?" Adopts a postmodern stance of critical questioning rather than a modernist search for essence or transcendence. "There is no end, in fact, to the different kinds of pictures." Shuns the idea of fixed, rigid definitions; affirms plurality. He adds ". . . artists from time to time have struggled to enlarge on these limitations;" Baldessari's conceptual work always addresses the limitations of art and its infinite possibilities for constructing meaning. Style: text art in which the typeface is impersonal and not chosen for aesthetic issues of "style." It is the concept that drives the work, not the percept. Context: Baldessari comes out of conceptual art; taught a course called "poststudio art" at Cal Arts in the 70s that was very influential; postmodern questioning of art that opens up thinking about what art can be rather than pinning down a definition. | ||
