John Baldessari

Born in California 1931, died 2020

Lived and worked in Santa Monica, USA

With works ranging from pure painting to appropriated imagery, collage, sculpture and the written word, John Baldessari offers aggressively multimedia takes on language and pop-culture, often laden with irony and a wicked sense of humor. Baldessari’s work dissects the ideas underlying artistic practice and questions the historically accepted rules of how to make art. The Arts Club’s works relate to his fascination with turning overlooked body parts, such as ears and toes, into witty twists of portraiture.

John Baldessari is widely regarded as one of contemporary art’s foremost conceptual artists. He had over 200 major solo museum exhibitions, including at London’s Tate Gallery and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2009 he received the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement.