when john baldessari was invited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Olafur real estate at all. It’s pretty simple. With what we’re doing, there will be
Eliasson to join a large cast of brave souls who would take part in the no restrictions, but essentially it will be some sort of postgraduate thing,
Serpentine Gallery’s Experiment Marathon (a follow-up to last year’s only ten students a year, and everything is free, with a good rotating
Obrist-run Interview Marathon), which entertained and enlightened faculty, and we’ll see.
audiences over the course of 24 hours during the final weekend of the
Frieze Art Fair this past October, he had to think up something to do. Do you think there is a commercial pressure on students to produce
Competition was stiff, what with the likes of Steven Pinker discussing saleable work immediately? Is this the world within which artists have
the links between language and consciousness, and figures such as to work?
Neil Turok describing the inflationary model of our universe. Not to
be outdone, Baldessari let it be known to the organisers that he simply
planned to turn water into wine…
And so he did. Very little would seem impossible for Baldessari
at this point. Now in his seventies, the elder statesman of the LA
artworld can add a little commercial success to his otherwise dedicated
career as an immensely respected artist and highly influential educator.
ArtReview caught up with the gentle giant just as he was preparing for
his biblical act at the Serpentine.
ArtReview:
Water into wine?
John Baldessari:
I did a little short film of it years ago [1972–3] for a show at Sonnabend
in New York. I had these little projectors of Super 8 film loops that they
use in porno shops, and I just had it running continuously. But I never
did it in person.
Do you think much about these kinds of crossovers between art
and science?
Well, I’ll tell you a story. I just got this Smithsonian Medal. There was a
big dinner, photos, conversation, that kind of thing. I said hello to this
one guy, and we were talking a little more than hello and goodbye. He
said he was a biologist, and I asked him to tell me a little bit more and
he said, “Well, I’m the codiscoverer of the double helix.” It was [James]
Watson [who with Francis Crick uncovered the structure of DNA]!
And I’m thinking, like, what have I done in my life? But you know, he
talked about how he started collecting art. He said at first he had a cap
of $1,000, but that was also when he only had a $10,000 a year salary.
That’s a commitment.
As far as actual crossovers between art and science, years ago
there was this show of art and technology at the LA County Museum. I hope not. One way you can look at it is to go back, to look back at New
There was that E.A.T. [Experiments in Art and Technology] activity of York in the 1950s and 60s, maybe. Everybody is struggling. If there were
Bob Rauschenberg’s and Billy Klüver’s too. But you know, it doesn’t the money around that there is now, you think it would be any different?
work. It didn’t work back then. I think the only person that was successful I think it would be the same… I mean, the money, if it’s there, how many
was Bob Irwin. He had a good kind of marriage of the two, for a guy artists can be pure? If they are eking it out and somebody is waving
dealing with perception. You can’t force it. All you can do is play Cupid money in front of them, the pressure and the competitiveness would
and see what happens. be right there. I don’t know how to get around it. It’s just part of the
equation. Like cancer. It’s part of life. I don’t think you should not know
For someone who has taught nearly his entire career, do you about cancer. You should know what’s operative. I think the real mistake
see art schools changing in the future? Have they become too – and of course any student will say they know the difference, but you
institutionalised, too professionalised? And do art schools serve to gotta know the difference between art and money – the amount of
‘brand’ their artists? money does not mean quality. I think they still secretly believe that
– that if nobody wants to show them, there must be something wrong
There is this foundation begun by Craig Robins. I’m on his board, with their art. And I say, “Listen, first of all, never call a gallerist a gallerist,
and we’re starting this new art school and trying to bypass all of the call them a merchant. Then it’s very clear. They have to pay the rent. It
problems of art schools and bring forward all of the good things, to see doesn’t matter whether they like your work or not – if they think they
how it would work… It’s essentially an idea that you can’t teach art, but if can sell it, they’re going to show you. It’s that simple.” But people still
you’re around artists you might pick up something. It shouldn’t be about think it’s all over if someone doesn’t pick them up in a gallery.
John Baldessari.indd 53 7/12/07 11:30:36
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