John Baldessari

Photo by Fredrik Nilson, courtesy 1301PE

John Baldessari, "Untitled (Maquette)" (1989)

Photo courtesy Joseph H. Hirshhorn

Thomas Eakins, "Study for the Crucifixion" (1880) from "Ways of Seeing"

John Baldessari: Noses & Ears, Etc. Part 2

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Yes, very much. I think art is essentially about making choices. Where you’re making the choices could be anywhere, but it’s certainly one thing or the other. If it’s beyond utilitarian, it’s aesthetic. In the same way, I can’t escape my history of supporting myself as a teacher, and so there are some didactic things in the show. I’ve tried not to be too heavy-handed, but it’s certainly there.

I see that the pieces of yours that the Hirshhorn have hung in a small accompanying exhibition are very early pieces. Do you think there’s something in the air that is making Conceptual art seem particularly relevant again?

I do see this. And I encounter it in my teaching as well. There is a strong interest in art from the 1970s for whatever reason. I really couldn’t tell you why.

I wonder if it’s something to do with impatience with the status quo. Certainly your early work seemed to have a real impatience about it.

I think that’s correct, yes. I once said that if I saw the art around me that I liked, then I wouldn’t do art.

So, to bring things up to date, John, you have a show opening at Marian Goodman in the fall, what can we look forward to there?

[Laughs out loud.] I wish I could tell you! I’m right in the midst of it, so all I can say is that it’s a continuation of a new series of work that I embarked upon a few months ago for a show at the Cristina Guerra Gallery in Lisbon. It’s called “Noses and Ears, Etc.” All you have to do is read Gogol’s short story “The Nose,” and you’ll get the idea.