A Brief collection display of John Baldessari

John Baldessari (1931 - 2020) is one of the best-known representatives of conceptual art. He combines ingenuity and levity in his work, creating a sense of idiosyncratic irony which subtly questions his own artistic identity.

The recent acquisition of seven works by Baldessari has created the occasion for a one-room installation. This idea originated with Inka Graeve Ingelmann (1960 - 2019). As head of the Photography and New Media department, she has been instrumental in building and shaping the collection since the opening of the Pinakothek der Moderne. The John Baldessari Room was realised according to her plans.

The One with the dots
“I’ll probably be remembered as the guy who put dots over people’s faces”, Baldessari said. Yet this trademark ability to direct attention from the essential to the supposedly trivial, is but one aspect of the artist’s rich visual universe. Photography and painting, video and sculpture, image and text, and the general crossover between different disciplines and narratives define his work.