John Baldessari
American, 1931–2020
Baldessari was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He was born in National City, California, in 1931 and he attended San Diego State University. He did post-graduate work at Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute and the University of California at Berkeley. Baldessari taught at the California Institute of the Arts from 1970-1986 and the University of California at Los Angeles from 1996-2007. His artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in 1,000 group exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
His awards and honors include the 2014 National Medal of Arts Award; the International Print Center in New York in 2016; memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, being named as a mentor in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and the BACA Laureate 2008; and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, awarded by La Biennale di Venezia and the City of Goslar Kaiserring in 2012. He has received honorary degrees from the National University of Ireland, San Diego State University, Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design and California College of the Arts.
“I have always been attracted to hybrid areas, the spaces between things.”
Photo © Sidney Felsen
