who was john baldessari?
John Baldessari is an American-Californian Conceptual Artist. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice. He is best known for works that take photographic materials such as film stills out of their original context and juxtaposing the picture with text, such as his early text painting called the “Wrong” series.
In the “Wrong” photograph, John Baldessari had himself photographed in front of a palm tree so that it looked as though the tree was growing out of his head. One of the reason why Baldessari may have introduced text to his paintings could have been because he realized that images and texts have similar characteristics – they both can use codes as a way of conveying their messages. rhaps he thinks that you should strongly avoid using definite statements and that you should always partly state, as there will always be an alternate response to a definite statement. Take the case of “Wrong” for instance. The composition in the image is clearly of a poor quality and the exposure values are considerably above/below average and so this labels the image as poorly exposed and composed. However, this does not mean that the image is wrong and no one can state whether a photograph is right or wrong except the photographer. This is because the photographer knew exactly what he/she were trying to achieve whilst capturing that image and so if they weren't able to reach that goal in their opinion, then they can say “This is wrong”. However, it is ironic that John Baldessari labelled this image as wrong as he achieved the exact effect he wanted to. Thus, in his eyes, this picture was successful at conveying its message and so therefore, it is “correct”. So overall, John may have linked the image to the statement “Wrong” as he may not have wanted people to judge the image. In such circumstances, this word may have caused the viewer to question whether the image actually is wrong and so they may then be able to understand and see Baldessari’s hidden and underlying message. [The following link will take you to John Baldessari's website which contains much more information and knowledge on the Photographer, should you wish to access it: http://www.baldessari.org/] |