When you go to see John Baldessari: Selected Works at Marian Goodman Gallery, I advise you to do two things. One is to stand close enough to the images so that you can see the grainy textures of the enlarged image, and the other is to check sideways at how the image is mounted (a trick I learned from my art school friends to tell if an artist has stretched their own canvas). As many of the images are blown up from film stills, by standing close you can see the microscopic elements that make up the frame as the single unit, like skin cells together forming a hand. These creation techniques are employed by Baldessari as part of his exploration of looking into all the elements of an image, microscopic and macroscopic, rather than relying on, as he terms it "the (visual) tyranny of the square."
In a way, this concept is becoming more and more relevant to our generation, with the advent of apps like Instagram and our increasing dependence on the Internet. Both have, for many of us, dominated our memory and sense of reality as a series of digital rectangles that are absent of the details of touch, taste, temperature and feeling that accompany a real life interaction. To combat the "tyranny" of an image, Baldessari employs techiniques that play with refocusing the dominant feature of an image. In his photographs, often the viewers’ attention initially turns to unpacking an emotional subtext, rather than the pure aesthetics. His iconic "circles" over his subjects' faces remove any emotions that can be inferred from the eyes or face, reassigning dominance to the non-human elements of a frame.
The exhibition spans Baldessari’s work from 1987 to 1989, and includes work created for the exhibitions Ni por Esas/ Not Even So: John Balessari (Museuo Nacionel Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain, 1989), Magiciens de la Terre (Centre George Pompidou/Grande Halle La Villette, Paris, 1989), and John Baldessari (Museo d’Arte Comtemporanea, Italy, 1987).
Through August 23rd 2013
MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY
24 W 54th St #4
New York, 10019
MAP
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Images courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery
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In a way, this concept is becoming more and more relevant to our generation, with the advent of apps like Instagram and our increasing dependence on the Internet. Both have, for many of us, dominated our memory and sense of reality as a series of digital rectangles that are absent of the details of touch, taste, temperature and feeling that accompany a real life interaction. To combat the "tyranny" of an image, Baldessari employs techiniques that play with refocusing the dominant feature of an image. In his photographs, often the viewers’ attention initially turns to unpacking an emotional subtext, rather than the pure aesthetics. His iconic "circles" over his subjects' faces remove any emotions that can be inferred from the eyes or face, reassigning dominance to the non-human elements of a frame.
The exhibition spans Baldessari’s work from 1987 to 1989, and includes work created for the exhibitions Ni por Esas/ Not Even So: John Balessari (Museuo Nacionel Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain, 1989), Magiciens de la Terre (Centre George Pompidou/Grande Halle La Villette, Paris, 1989), and John Baldessari (Museo d’Arte Comtemporanea, Italy, 1987).
Through August 23rd 2013
MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY
24 W 54th St #4
New York, 10019
MAP
Images courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery
