John Baldessari - biography

John Baldessari belongs to the most famous artist of the present, and for almost 50 years, so he is a man for every art connoisseur who applies. If you don't know John Baldessari yet, you will find out the basics of his artistic life path:

John Baldessari - the gift of an effortless departure

John Baldessari was born on June 17, 1931 in National City, a typical American, slightly faceless suburb of the city of San Diego in southern California . However, his father, however, had a lot to oppose the uniformity of cars, streets and intersections and telephone masts as a wall painter, and it can be assumed that he passed the artistic interest in his son.

In any case, there was probably enough talent as soon as soon as an academic and as an artist should prove as soon as an artist: Baldessari began studying art at San Diego State College (1949 to 1953), followed by studies in Berkeley (University of California in Berkeley, 1954 - 1955) and Los Angeles (University of California in Los Angeles, 1955) until he went back to State College in San Diego (1955 - 1957). Until 1959, Baldessari completed his studies with learning times at the Chouinard Art Institute and at the Otis Art Institute, both in Los Angeles.

His artist career was very easy, especially in the academic area, very early on, he started as soon as he was training Art lecturer: Immediately after completing his studies, John Baldessari received the first offer for a teaching position, from San Diego State College at home, where he then worked as a lecturer from 1959 to 1961.

After that, the Southwestern College in San Diego wanted him, in this teaching, Baldessari remained almost 8 years until the next step to promotion to a professorship arose: in 1968 he received an offer to switch to the University of California as an assistant professor to the campus in San Diego.

Baldessari now has a sparkling idea with which he supported his steep climb in the academic art world. In this assistant professorship, he probably never wanted to live through another 8 years of slow artistic development, probably had enough leisure in this long teaching to make it clear about his style, and obviously enough leisure to gain insight that he would never want to produce boring art again in the future.

When Baldessari was appointed as a professor to Los Angeles by the California Institute of the Arts in 1970, there was definitely a move, with his wife and child and over 100 pictures created so far, which he stored in his spacious studio, an old cinema.

So Baldessari took this opportunity to say goodbye to his previous artistic work in a brilliantly spectacular project: the “creamation project” place in the old residence in San Diego in the summer of 1970, a picture burning campaign that helped him in the moving car as much as headlines in the press.

Then he moved freely, to Santa Monica on the edge of Los Angeles , this place of residence has remained his center of life and work.

Perhaps he hadn't foresight that he would line up with such an action at the front of the concept artists who were just in the starting blocks.

In any case, after this campaign of his career as a world -famous artist, nothing stood in the way: it went steeply upwards, academically and artistically and with the constant sympathy of the public: Baldessari was able to show his diverse works in the course of his career in over 120 individual exhibitions and more than 300 group exhibitions all over the world.

The exhibition history documents Baldessari rise through the art world of the intellectuals, which, incidentally, began in Germany, on Documenta: In 1972 Baldessari was first seen at Documenta V in Kassel , and only then followed an exhibition in the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston .

Baldessari's train around the world is decorated with many awards

From 1973, his videos, installations, collages, collages, cut-ups and concept works of art in the USA and in Europe appeared, especially in the academic environment, it really started at the beginning of the 1980s: in 1980 and 1982 he was seen in the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, 1982 also on the Documenta VII, followed by an incessantly ongoing exhibition history through the American and European Centers of modern academic art.

Baldessari continued to teach until 1988 at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. In 1996 the University of California Los Angeles Baldessari offered a chair, and since 2000 he has been Doctor of Fine Arts at the Otis Art Institute, originally part of the New York Parsons School of Design, independently as Otis College of Arts and Design from 1991.

He was able significant awards in Europe z. B. the Austrian Oskar Kokoschka Preis (1996), the International Prize of Photography of the Lower Saxony Foundation (1999), for his life's work in 2009 the Golden Lion of the Biennale Venice and the Goslarer Kaiserring in 2012.

Baldessari had long since become one of the most important representatives of contemporary concept and media art when he retired in 2007 at the impressive age of 76, but he still worked as an artist.

John Baldessari still lives and works in Santa Monica California, and his work is still so diverse, funny and interesting how the subsequent article about his art wants to convey.

Video: https://www.thisisjanewayne.com/