John Baldessari Biography

John Baldessari was a famous American conceptual artist best known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He was living and working in Santa Monica and Venice, California.

Originally a painter, Baldessari started to include texts and photography in his canvases in the mid-1960s. In 1970 he started working in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture, and photography.

He constructed thousands of works that show and, in many cases, merge the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art, and the narrative potential of images. Baldessari’s art has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His work impacted that of Barbara Kruger, Annette Lemieux, Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and others.

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10 Facts About John Baldessari

1. Name: JohnBaldessari
2. Age at the time of death: 88 years
3. Date of death: 2 January 2020
4. Date of birth:17 June 1931
5. Birthday: 17 June
6. Height: 6 feet 7 inches (2 meters)
7. Nationality: American
8. Marital Status: Married
9. Occupation: Conceptual Artist
10. Net Worth: $76 million

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John Baldessari Death

Baldessari died on 2 January 2020 in Venice, Los Angeles, California, United States. He died at an age of 88 years old.

John Baldessari Age

Baldessari was 88 years old as of his death, he was born on 17 June 1931 in National City, California. He celebrated his birthday on June 17 every and his birth sign is Gemini.

John Baldessari Height

Baldessari stood at a height of 6 feet 7 inches (2 meters) tall.

John Baldessari Education

Baldessari studied at Sweetwater High School and later on attended San Diego State College. Baldessari began teaching art in the San Diego school system in the year 1959. He trained for almost three decades, in schools and junior colleges, community colleges, and eventually at the university level.

When the University of California chose to open up a campus in San Diego, the new head of the Visual Art Department, Paul Brach, requested Baldessari to be part of the originating faculty in the year 1968.

John Baldessari Family

Baldessari was born in National City, California, to his late mother, Hedvig Marie Jensen (1896-1950), and to his later father, Antonio Baldessari (1877-1976). His mother was a Danish nurse whereas his father was an Italian salvage dealer. Baldessari and his elder sister were brought up in Southern California. He grew up together with his elder sister in Southern California.

John Baldessari Wife

Baldessari was married to Montessorian teacher Carol Ann Wixom. The couple has two children known as Annamarie Baldessari and Tony Baldessari.

John Baldessari Net Worth

Baldessari has an estimated net worth of $76 million dollars. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a conceptual artist. Through his various sources of income, Baldessari has been able to accumulate good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.

John Baldessari Measurements and Facts

Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Baldessari.

John Baldessari Wiki

• Full Names: John Anthony Baldessari
• Popular As: American Artist
• Gender: Male
• Occupation / Profession: Artist
• Nationality: American
• Race / Ethnicity: White
• Religion: To be updated
• Sexual Orientation: Straight

John Baldessari Birthday

• Age / How Old?: 88 Years old as of his death
• Zodiac Sign: Gemini
• Date of Birth: 17 June 1931
• Place of Birth: National City, California
• Birthday: 17 June
• Date of death: 2 January 2020

Baldessari Family and Relationship

• Father (Dad): Hedvig Jensen
• Mother: Antonio Baldessari
• Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Betty Sokol
• Marital Status: Married
• Wife/Spouse: Married to Carol Ann Wixom
• Dating / Girlfriend: Not Applicable
• Children:  Sons (Tony Baldessari) Daughter(s) (Annamarie Baldessari)

Baldessari Net Worth and Salary

• Net Worth: $76 million dollars
• Salary: To be updated
• Source of Income: Conceptual artist

John Baldessari Art|Paintings

• Wrong 1967
• Pure Beauty 1968
• What Is Painting 1968
• Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line 1973
• The Fallen Easel 1988

• Goya Series: And 1997
• Prima Facie (Fifth State) 2006
• Kaldor Public Art Project 23: John Baldessari 2011 2011
• Cremation Project, Corpus Wafers (With Text, Recipe, and Documentation)

John Baldessari Prints

Baldessari started making prints in the early 1970s as well as continued to produce editions. He created his first print – I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art in 1971 as an edition to raise funds for the Nova Scotia College of Art as well as Design, Halifax. The lithograph was created in conjunction with the now renowned exhibition for which at Baldessari’s request students endlessly wrote the phrase “I will not make any more boring art” on the gallery walls.

The artist has since served internationally with premier publishers including Arion Press of San Francisco, Brook Alexander Editions of New York, Cirrus Editions of Los Angeles, Crown Point Press of San Francisco, Edition Jacob Samuel of Santa Monica, Gemini G.E.L. of Los Angeles, Mixografia of Los Angeles, Multiples, Multi Editions of Los Angeles, Inc. of New York, and Peter Blum Editions of New York.

His year 1988 prints, The Fallen Easel as well as Object (with Flaw), represented a major shift in Baldessari’s approach to presentation, allowing a more complex relationship between his found imagery. In both prints, Baldessari expertly contrasts unrelated photographs to suggest a mysterious and/or ominous undercurrent. In the 1990s Baldessari started working along with Mixografia Workshop to create three-dimensional prints utilizing their unique process of printing from metal molds.

Baldessari’s interest in dimensionality has carried over to recent editions from Gemini G.E.L., including the Person with Guitar series in the year 2005 as well as the print series Noses & Ears, Etc. (2006–2007) in which screen-printed images are constructed in three layers on Sintra with hand painting.

A 2007 publication from Gemini is God Nose, a cast aluminum piece that is designed to hang from the ceiling. Baldessari also contributed to the year 2008 Artists for Obama portfolio, a set of prints in a limited edition of 150 published by Gemini G.E.L.

John Baldessari Dots

A prevailing motif in Baldessari’s work from the mid-1980s onward are circular adhesive dots covering up the faces of photographed and painted portraits. The artist himself suspects that, despite the broad array of approaches he’s taken over the course of his career, he will be best remembered as “the guy who puts dots over people’s faces.”

John Baldessari Photography

Baldessari started to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960s. In the year 1970, he started serving in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture, and photography.

John Baldessari Books

• More Than You Wanted to Know About Baldessari 2013
• Baldessari: A Print Retrospective from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation 2010

• Ingres and Other Parables 1972
• Baldessari Catalogue Raisonne: Volume Six: 2011-2019
• Close-cropped Tales 1981

• The Telephone Book: (with Pearls) 1988
• Yours in Food, Baldessari 2004
• The Metaphor Problem: Again 1999

• Baldessari: Music 2007
• Prima Facie: Marilyn’s Dress: a Poem (in Four Parts) 2006
• Baldessari: noses & ears, etc. (part four) 2009

• Baldessari: Somewhere Between Almost Right and Not Quite (With Orange) 2004
• Miracle Chips ®: Guaranteed Fresh 2009
• The Städel Paintings 2015

• This is an example of the 2008
• Barbara Bloom 2011
• 100 Artists See God 2004

•  Raised Eyebrows 2008
• Again the Metaphor Problem and Other Engaged Critical Discourses about Art: A Conversation between John
• Baldessari, Liam Gillick, and Lawrence Weiner, moderated by Beatrix Ruf 2006

• L.A. Pop in the Sixties 1989
• Discourses: Conversations in Postmodern Art and Culture
• Collaboration

• Haus Lange, Krefeld 2009
• Noses & Ears, Etc. Part three 2006

•  Four Short Films 1972-1973 2014
•  Beethoven’s Trumpet: in One Ear & Out the Same Ear 2007
• Funky lessons 2005
• Bow Down 2002

• Brice Marden 1986
• Baldessari – RMS W VU: Wallpaper, Lamps, and Plants. (new) 1998

• Departures 2000 Richard Allen Morris: retrospective 1958-2004
• Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, [October 24, 2004 – January 23, 2005
• Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (May 5 – August 21, 2005) 2004

John Baldessari Quotes

• I go back and forth between wanting to be abundantly simple and maddeningly complex.
• When I went to art school, I was just having fun. I realized that was the last chance I had, and then I would have to get a job.
• It’s a human desire to be understood. And we always feel we’re not understood.

• I guess I get bored easily and thank God. I don’t want all my life to pound only the same key, although some artists do it very effectively. I’m not trying to denigrate anybody.
• That word ‘funny’ always makes me feel uncomfortable. Because if I were trying to be funny, I would be something like Bill Wegman – he really tries to be funny. I don’t try to be funny. It’s just that I feel the world is a little bit absurd and off-kilter, and I’m sort of reporting.
• I could never figure out why photography and art had separate histories. So I decided to explore both.

Frequently Asked Questions About John Baldessari

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