Movie stills and Miró: John Baldessari goes to Hollywood for his latest London survey
John Baldessari and Marian Goodman are long-time collaborators. Though this is only his second show with Goodman's London outpost, the 85-year-old American art icon has had over a dozen shows with the gallery internationally since 1990.
His new survey comprises 25 movie stills, each paired with an unrelated Joan Miró painting. A seemingly random word – ‘Apropos’, ‘True’, ‘Unfailing’ – is printed across the bottom.
Making things even trickier to decipher, Baldessari is keeping the names of the original films close to his chest. You'd have to be a serious buff to recognise them all (or any), particularly with large sections blocked out by thick blobs of colourful paint, in Baldessari-bright blues, greens and reds.
Gallery director Valerie Blair confirms that we're not wrong in thinking that the exhibition teems with classic Baldessari wit and absurdity. 'The works are imbued with John’s typical sense of humour – making puns, playing with the relationship between words and images, pop culture and high culture.'
It's far from nonsensical, though. Blair notes something many of the private-view goers probably missed, whilst lunging for a mini hotdog or other such American-themed canapes – that the title of each work is a synonym of another. 'Necessary' and 'Incumbent', for instance. With this in mind, the exhibition becomes a conundrum that the viewers must work out. Baldessari, in Blair's opinion, is asking 'viewers to respond in their own way and to create their own new composite meaning'. In traditional Baldessari style, it's not the meaning, but the figuring out that's important.
INFORMATION
'Miró and Life In General' is on view until 25 February. For more information, visit the Marian Goodman website
ADDRESS
5-8 Lower John Street
London W1F 9DY
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
Get to know Issey Miyake’s innovative A-POC ABLE line as it arrives in the UK
As A-POC ABLE Issey Miyake launches in London this week, designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae gives Wallpaper* the lowdown on the experimental Issey Miyake offshoot
By Jack Moss Published
-
Eurovision unveils its 2024 stage, designed by Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour creatives
This year's stage design aims to bring the audience into the performance more than ever before.
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Ikea meets Japan in this new pattern-filled collection
New Ikea Sötrönn collection by Japanese artist Hiroko Takahashi brings Japan and Scandinavia together in a pattern-filled, joyful range for the home
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Gerhard Richter unveils new sculpture at Serpentine South
Gerhard Richter revisits themes of pattern and repetition in ‘Strip-Tower’ at London’s Serpentine South
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Meet the Turner Prize 2024 shortlisted artists
The Turner Prize 2024 shortlisted artists are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas
By Hannah Silver Published
-
London gallery Incubator’s six emerging artists to see in spring 2024
Incubator's spring programme features six artists in consecutive two-week solo shows at the London, Chiltern Street gallery
By Mary Cleary Published
-
Kembra Pfahler revisits ‘The Manual of Action’ for CIRCA
Artist Kembra Pfahler will lead a series of classes in person and online, with a short film streamed from Piccadilly Circus in London, as well as in Berlin, Milan and Seoul, over three months until 30 June 2024
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Yinka Shonibare considers the tangled relationship between Africa and Europe at Serpentine South
Yinka Shonibare‘s ‘Suspended States’ at Serpentine South, London, considers history, refuge and humanitarian support (until 1 September 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Gavin Turk subverts still-life painting and says: ‘We are what we throw away’
Gavin Turk considers wasteful consumer culture in ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’ at Ben Brown Fine Arts, London
By Rowland Bagnall Published
-
Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece: Bloomsbury’s untold story
‘Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece: An Untold Story’ is a new exhibition at Charleston in Lewes, UK, that charts the duo's creative legacy
By Katie Tobin Published
-
Don’t miss: Thea Djordjadze’s site-specific sculptures in London
Thea Djordjadze’s ‘framing yours making mine’ at Sprüth Magers, London, is an exercise in restraint
By Hannah Silver Published