This edition is part of John Baldessari’s series “Hands And/Or Feet” from 2009. It continues the artist’s exploration of human identity through the fragmentation of parts of the body. By mounting together different found black-and-white photographs with colored areas, John Baldessari contextualizes human extremities with objects. As in other series by Baldessari, the “Hands And/Or Feet” is a result of Baldessari’s immersion in thinking about totality, what to leave out and what to leave in, a central concern in his work. Association and dissociation make up one of the central aspects of John Baldessari’s work: “What intrigues me here (and this is a method in most of my work) is establishing a set of conditions that make things difficult to occur, but not so difficult that they couldn’t possible occur.”

California based artist John Baldessari’s work is most often recognised as Conceptual or Minimalist. He is known for his pioneering use of appropriated imagery and works using found photography. His signature pieces are juxtapositions of images and text that delve into the power of language and the way in which art is communicated. His extensive body of work demonstrates the power of communication that can arise when texts and images are used in unison. Baldessari does this whilst offering a commentary on contemporary culture. Although he was initially a painter, since the 1970s, John Baldessari has worked less with paint and increasingly with collage as well as printmaking, film, video installation, sculpture and photography. This move away from painting gave rise to his interest in billboards, and the ways in which they function as a popular means of communication. Influences from fellow artists including Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, David Salle and Annette Lemieux are evident throughout much of his oeuvre. American, 1931-2020.

John Baldessari, Hands and/ or Feet