Header Image - John Baldessari, "Hot & Cold Series: GILLIS Well... YES BUT THAT'S," 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Iceberg: 56 1/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (142.4 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
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BY: PROVOKR Editors
John Baldessari is a living legend. Since his rise in the 1960s, he has constantly produced work that is always equal parts conceptual rigor and Pop irreverence. He has influenced everyone from Richard Prince to Cindy Sherman and beyond. At his latest exhibition called Hot & Coldat Marian Goodman’s New York gallery, the master has some fun and aptly plays with juxtapositions on a grand scale.
Although photography has played a huge part in Baldessari’s career, the natural world has rarely been mined as photographic subject matter. The exhibition itself is made up of a series of diptychs, each pairing showing a spare iceberg and a fiery volcanic eruption (the title Hot & Cold suddenly becomes crystal clear.) By showing an image next to another, visual competition immediately ensues. In fact, these pairs seem tense because of their near-touching proximity. Beneath each image is an appropriated text that reads both as humorous and bizarre, especially when you once again compare the two texts and images.
Upon a quick first glance you might not notice another dichotomy taking place. Although a more well-known technique used by Baldessari throughout the decades, the use of painting a solid layer of paint over certain forms in a photograph becomes more subtle when an iceberg is painted white, or the lava being shot into the air is painted with white and orange. Blue and black skies also appear on these prints, too. Usually, Baldessari would use vibrant shades of color when painting over these photographs, but this time it is more deceptive and subtle. Everything is normal, until suddenly you notice it isn’t.
John Baldessari has always had the talent of being able to invert a viewer’s expectations of image, language, and the mediums found in art history’s canon. Much like Marcel Duchamp before him, Baldessari’s intelligence comes from his willingness to lean into his absurdness. It is nice to see that the artist is as absurd as ever.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: SOME OF THE CREATURES, GILLIS Bases loaded.,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Iceberg: 56 1/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (142.4 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: GILLIS Hungry?, HUH?,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Iceberg: 56 1/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (142.4 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: AS HIGH AS TWO, SKOLSKY (With a sour smile),” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Iceberg: 57 3/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (145.7 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: THE FAT MAN… BETTY Except for about six pages,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Iceberg: 57 3/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (145.7 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: OKEY-DOKEY, NORMA Go Away,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Iceberg: 56 1/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (142.6 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: GILLIS Forget Romanoff’s., WHO?,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Iceberg: 57 3/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (145.7 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
John Baldessari, “Hot & Cold Series: GILLIS Well… YES BUT THAT’S,” 2018. Varnished inkjet prints on canvas with acrylic paint. Iceberg: 56 1/8 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (142.4 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Volcano: 55 1/2 x 45 x 1 1/2 in. (141 x 114.3 x 3.8 cm.) Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
