I just envisioned a great New Yorker cartoon with a guy on a street It’s funny, one of the first things new collectors often ask is, “How do you
corner wearing a sign that reads, ‘The artworld is going to end find artists?” As if you could throw a stone in Chelsea or Williamsburg
tomorrow! Repent!’ without hitting one. But I get the same question from artists: “How do
you find collectors?” It’s amazing that these two groups can’t find one
Do you feel that LA has this burgeoning scene the way London another (even though we know that they do).
seems to?
There should be collector/artist mixers! I’ve got to tell you a great story.
Probably yes. I’ve been in Los Angeles since 1970, and metaphorically I think you wouldn’t mind. An old friend of mine is Lawrence Weiner,
I’ve always seen the art scene there like a roller coaster – you know, ups and years ago we’re walking down in SoHo on a Saturday, and at the
and downs, ups and downs – but with this last ride, it’s staying up there, time Lawrence had a bad leg, and he was going around with a cane. So
and it may continue; there’s every reason for it to continue. There’s this there are a couple people maybe half a block ahead, and he says to me,
curator at the Pompidou, Catherine Grenier. She did this LA show [Los “Who is that guy? Isn’t he an LA collector?” And I said, “Yeah, I think so.”
Angeles 1955–1985: The Birth of an Artistic Capital], and she literally And with that Lawrence picks up his cane and starts running after him.
said to me – so I assume she’s saying it to other people – “Art’s over in
New York, it’s only in LA.” That’s a pretty dramatic statement! But there That story should get told more often. It would beat back some of
is a lot of cachet now to that name, ‘Los Angeles’. If you get a young the ideas that the artists working at the time had no interest in selling
artist from Los Angeles, it has some kind of cachet; it seems to mean their work.
something, and that’s unfortunate, because it means you’re not looking
at the work. That’s what I’m saying: if there was money back then, do you think it
would be any different? I don’t think so. You know that was my milieu.
But this seems to have more to do with wanting to be a part of a But now Mel [Bochner] is doing paintings. And with Lawrence it used
community of artists. You could see in the 1960s and 70s that someone to be “anybody could do it”, and now only he can do it.
would want to live in New York…
But at a certain age it’s OK to trade on your reputation in the
Which is bad in LA – because of the geography, artists don’t get artworld.
together. You have to play phone tag. Maybe you see each other at
openings. But in New York, because it’s New York, you’re jammed Yes, but that brings up the idea of having a trademark or signature kind
together, and you’ll walk down the street and probably meet another of work. You know my friend Lawrence, he always used to be on my
artist and go get coffee or a drink. back about teaching. He’d say, “You shouldn’t teach. You should live off
John Baldessari.indd 56 4/12/07 16:35:29
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