Addie Ascherl- Project #1

Bathroom by Addie Ascherl, 2023

In this piece, I wanted to draw on some concepts within John Baldessari's work: he often uses bright colors in a "mundane" setting. Of course, I had to include the iconic dot over the face as a homage to him, as well. 

On John Baldessari

Addie Ascherl

“It’s hard for me to throw anything away without thinking about how it can become part of some work I’m doing… I just stare at something and say: Why isn’t that art? Why couldn’t that be art?” (John Baldessari in an interview in 2008). John Baldessari (1931-2020) was an artist who challenged conventional ideas of what makes something an art piece, of what art truly is. This approach crowned him as one of the most influential figures in the conceptual art movement. He was dedicated to mentoring his students through his teaching of conceptual art in Southern California for almost 30 years. 

In the 60’s, Baldessari began experimenting with more subversive forms of art, focusing on written messages as well as photography. One of his most famous works during this period is titled Wrong, featuring a photograph of himself standing in front of a palm tree. The reason that the photograph is “wrong” has to do with the framing: photographers and artists alike are taught that it is improper framing to place the subject in front of a tree, as it would look like the tree is growing from the person’s head. Baldessari’s Wrong is just as the title suggests– that is to say, the “wrong” way of photographing a subject. But is there such a thing as “wrong” art? Who decides the rules of art anyways? These are questions that Baldessari is prompting within the viewer through this piece, along with various other of his works. 

Baldessari continued to create philosophical pieces that questioned the art making process. His piece The Cremation Process appears like several burnt cookies in a jar, but there is more than meets the eye. One of the ingredients of these cookies are the ashes of all the paintings he produced between 1953 and 1966.

He is perhaps best known for his work of editing found photography, a practice which has earned him the title “Master of Appropriation.” This work often includes his inclusion of vibrant colored dots obscuring the subjects’ face, an act that “would lead the viewer to find beauty, meaning or significance in the ‘rest of’ the photograph as a result of the faces being covered,” (John Baldessari: Master of Appropriation). This “rest of” the photograph was often something that viewers would otherwise likely find mundane and gloss over. However, by removing one’s face, the first place that humans’ eyes naturally gravitate towards in an image, the viewer is left observing the rest of the image, finding greater depth in what was previously perceived as “ordinary.” The color of these dots was inspired by Pop Art, a movement that he believed had a great impact on his work. 

In retrospect, I now see how my work Bathroom may have been inspired by a simple aspect of his work rather than an understanding of his reappropriation of previous images, of determining what is or isn’t true art. In fact, it could be argued that it is more similarly linked to pop art, through the use of vibrant colors. However, pop art does tend to include imagery in popular culture, such as advertisements, which my work does not do. Nevertheless, Baldessari’s work is something that everyone should explore, whether they are an artist or not. His work urges us to ask these philosophical questions about authority, perspective, and the act of creation, all of which can change not just the art field but the world around us. 

Works Cited

“John Baldessari: Master of Appropriation.” Invaluable, 26 Sept. 2022, www.invaluable.com/blog/john-baldessari-master-of-appropriation/#:~:text=In%20a%20nod%20to%20the,of%20the%20faces%20being%20covered.