John Baldessari: Pictures & Scripts, Marian Goodman

Conceptual artist John Baldessari famously said, ‘a word could be an image or an image could be a word, they could be interchangeable’. Now at 83, Baldessari is something of a living legend in the contemporary art London scene.
John Baldessari biography
Baldessari is best known for his pioneering use of text in his artwork since the mid ‘60s, with quips and puns, and an acute awareness of language. He has influenced generations of artists as a professor for the cutting-edge California Institute of the Arts (or Cal Arts) during the ‘70s and '80s, including students Matt Mullican, David Salle, Tony Oursler, and Jack Goldstein who became known as the ‘Pictures Generation.’
John Baldessari exhibition
Don’t miss the chance to view new John Baldessari paintings at his forthcoming solo show at Marian Goodman gallery, London; his first exhibition since the 2009 John Baldessari Tate Modern retrospective. The 20 works at Marian Goodman juxtapose still images from black and white films with excerpts from fictive narrative film scripts. The stills capture moments of paused action, some of which have been over-painted with in monochrome fields, while the texts hint at conversations between art world insiders. In his characteristically humorous style, John Baldessari artwork lays bare the commercial arm of the art industry.