%C2%A9 John Baldessari
Lithograph on ivory paperexpand_more
The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fundexpand_more P.72.2
John Baldessari uses chance, irony, and paradox to battle the high seriousness of contemporary art. His work is often conceptual, as in this tongue-in-cheek lithograph featuring a self-referential caveat that art must never be mundane.
Unable to fulfill a commitment to visit the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1971, Baldessari instead asked the student artists to repeatedly write out the title phrase of the print shown here, completely filling the four walls of a gallery. Baldessari performed the same activity on videotape, which was later shown in the gallery, and wittily documented the whole affair with this self-contradictory print.
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© John Baldessari