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ART HISTORY 4470
Conceptual & Performance
John Baldesarri
(b. 1931)
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training: San Diego State College (1949–57)
significance: emphasizes ideas, language, and
performative actions over formal
preoccupations of painting
aim: “to give the public what they know"
– letters, words, and photographic images
– text and photo pieces on canvas that doesn't
look like Abstract Expressionism
process: Conceptual
– piece not actually physically done by artist
– somebody else builds stretcher bars,
stretches canvas, and primes
– text painted by professional sign painter
– appropriated (found) text
narrative tone: slyly ironic
career:
– July 1970: disillusioned w/ state of painting in
1960s, B cremated (burned) many of his early
landscapes and abstractions
– abandoned painterly conventions
– began making canvases using photographs
and texts
– Golden Lion at Venice Biennale (2009)
Baldesarri
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What Is Painting (1966‐68)
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aim: “to give the public what they know"
– letters, words, and photographic
images
– text on canvas
– doesn't look like AbExp
process: Conceptual
– piece not actually physically done by
artist
– somebody else builds stretcher bars,
stretches canvas, and primes
– text painted by professional sign
painter
– appropriated (found) text
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(Left) Nauman’s Anti‐Form
The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (1967)
vs.
(right) Baldesarri’s Conceptual What Is Painting (1966‐68)
Baldesarri
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I Will Not Maky Any More Boring Art
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date: 1971
process: Conceptual
• sentence B instructed students to
write on gallery walls "like
punishment"
• B not present at "exhibition" nor at
workshop where print was made
• simply sent handwritten page to be
reproduced
• made videotape of himself writing
the sentence
(Left) TWOMBLY’s On the Bowery (c. 1970)
vs.
(right) BALDESARRI’s Conceptual I Will Not Maky Any More Boring Art (1971)
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Baldesarri
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Five Pickles (with Fingerprints) in the
Shape of a Hand (1975)
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concept: consciousness of language
• evident in use of puns & semantics
narrative tone: humorous
• dramatized the ordinary (see Dada)
• apparent simplicity of his words and
images lie multiple connotations
composition: based on Structuralism
• captioned and arranged to suggest
unusual syntax
technique: chromogenic color prints
mounted on etching paper
materials: incorporates material drawn
from popular culture
Baldesarri
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High Flight (1986)
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aim: “looking for images not in the dictionary"
narrative: confounding
• significance and associations of motifs
frustrates attempts to find definitive, closed
meaning
motifs: seven found photographs
composition: inverted–T form
• references crucifix
• inverted format projects image upward
second photograph from top: man hangs,
unsupported, high above landscape
bottom row: underwater scenes
• figures are not subject to gravity, despite
their position at base of the piece
• central image  five synchronized
swimmers in graceful ring
• flanked by reversed and repeated image of
diver sitting among fish
• B concentrates on opposites w/ these
flopped images
• color: tinted complimentary orange/blue
– orange  danger
– blue  the ideal
Baldesarri
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Untitled (c. 1985)
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aim: to dissect ideas behind artistic
practice and question accepted
historical rules for making art
tone: humorous and ironic
• injects humor and dissonance into
vernacular imagery
materials: combines children’s media (e.g.,
crayon, stickers) with photomontage
• colorful dots over faces
• obscures portions of scenes
• juxtaposes stock photographs w/
quixotic phrases
composition: deliberately naïve
• upends commonly held expectations
of how images function
• draws viewer’s attention to minor
details, absences, or the spaces
between thing
color: black and white w/ primaries and
secondaries
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Gilbert & George
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biographies:
– Gilbert Proesch (b. 1943 in San Martin de Tor,
Italy
– George Passmore (b. 1942 in Plymouth, UK
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met as students at St. Martins School of
Art (London)
work together as collaborative duo called
Gilbert & George
themes: broad range of human experience &
emotions
– almost all of imagery they use gathered w/in
walking distance of their home in London’s
East End
– rural idylls
– gritty, decaying London
– fantastical brightly‐colored panoramas
– raw examinations of humanity stripped bare
– sex advertisements t
– eligious fundamentalism
slogan: ‘Art for All’
personas: impeccably‐dressed figures
– adopted identity of ‘living sculptures’ in both
their art and daily lives, becoming not only
creators, but also the art itself
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Gilbert & George
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The Singing Sculpture (1969)
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performance: standing together on table
• table  plinth
• faces and hands painted w/ mix of bronze‐
colored metallic powder and Vaseline
• Danced/sang Flanagan and Allen standard
Underneath the Arches
– song about two tramps who
describe pleasures of sleeping
rough
• slowly repeated series of gestures
• circled mechanically like figures inside a
music box
meaning:
• harkens back to prewar England
• traditions of vaudeville
• also identifies w/ fringes of society
impact: invited to present all over world
• sometimes for eight hours at a stretch
• could reach only handful of people at a
time
• began to create films and pictures that
could extend idea of living sculpture w/out
requiring their physical presence
Gilbert & George
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Bad Thoughts (1975)
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significance: pivotal moment w/in evolution of
G&G’s iconography
• especially use of architectural staging
narrative tone: introspective and self‐involved
• seeming to search for one another through
isolated frames
composition: ordered, rectangular grids
• references distinctive windows at St.
Martins School of Art (London) where the
duo met
color: adding only red to black and white
scene and context: dramatic editing
• floors rearing up
• rearranging perspective or windows
• abbreviated vistas
• contracted architectural environment and
limited exclusively to their Fournier
Street home
• London, half‐glimpsed through windows
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Gilbert & George
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Ginkgo Pictures (2005)
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venue: part of exhibition that represented
UK at 2005 Venice Biennale
technique: sophisticated digital editing
series: twenty‐five (25) pictures
motif: leaves of ginkgo [biloba] tree
• symbol of life
• fabled survivor  reputedly only
form of vegetation to
survive American atomic
bombing of Japan in 1945
composition: poster‐like, gridded
background: shaded in gold, silver and
primary colors
figures: artists incorporate themselves
• as they have done so in the past
• variety of poses, making faces
Gilbert & George
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The Jack Freak Pictures (2008)
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series: 153 in total
• consolidation of themes found in their art
over the last 40 years
– urban life
– race, sexuality, nationalism, religion,
– pain, death, hope, life
self‐portraiture: seen in various guises and w/
contorted bodies
• dressed in multi‐colored, patterned clothes
– kind worn by actors and comedians
in variety reviews
– intermingled w/ geometric and
figurative patterns
motifs: emblematic pictorial elements
• almost magical meaning to nature and use
it like an emblem
• Union Jack
– itself both an internationally
familiar, geometric pattern
– politically charged symbol
Laurie Anderson
(b. 1947)
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biography: born in Chicago, IL
– began violin lessons at age seven
– married Lou Reed (2008)
training:
– 1968: Barnard College (BA, art history)
– 1972: Columbia University (MFA)
career: pioneer in electronic music
– 1969: symphony played on auto horns
– 1973: met avant‐garde composer Philip
Glass
– mid‐1970s: variety of performances (e.g.,
Duets on Ice
– 1981: "O Superman" reached number two
on UK pop charts (despite its
experimental sounds and 8’ length)
technique: invented several devices for
recordings and performance art
– 1977: tape‐bow violin
– late 1990s: talking stick
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Anderson
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Duets on Ice (1974)
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site: four sites in NYC during summer
performance:
• tape‐deck violin
• played duets of Bach w/ pre‐
recorded material
• wearing skates embedded in blocks
of ice
• piece ended when blades hit
pavement
effect: theatrical artifice
• electronic manipulation disembodies
the piece
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United States (1980)
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scale: monumental 7‐hr performance
composition: divided into two long
evenings of performance at
Brooklyn Academy of Music
elements: simplicity of Duets on Ice
replaced by complex opera
• light
• sound  A’s voice shifts octaves back
and forth from male/female
• movement
• text
narrative: disorienting subversion of time
and space
meaning: discourse on media “scramble
system”
• communication grinds to a halt
• messages miss their destination and
drift aimlessly
Karen Finley
(b. 1956)
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training: San Francisco Art Institute (MFA)
– studied under Carolee Schneemann
career:
– 1977: performed in underground art galleries and
music clubs
• narratives juxtapose psychological impact
of F’s father’s suicide w/study of female
nude
– 1990: notably one of NEA Four
• performance artists grants vetoed
• process condemned by Sen. Jesse Helms
under "decency" issues
• argued in front of U.S. Supreme Court;
decided against F and other artists
– 1999: appeared in Playboy; received Ms.
magazine Woman of the Year
aesthetic: theatrical pieces/recordings often labeled
obscene
– graphic depictions of sexuality, abuse, and
disenfranchisement
– trancelike voice; verbally juggles different
characters
– at end of shows, often takes off clothes and
smears herself w/ chocolate or other substances
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Finley
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We Keep Our Victims Ready (1989)
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themes: incest, rape, violence, alcoholism,
suicide, poverty, homelessness
and discrimination
subject: pain, rage, love, lovelessness,
need, fear, dehumanization,
oppression, brutality and
consolation
figure: nude
• places, dabs, smears, pours and
sprinkles food on her body to
symbolize violation of female
characters
performance: shrieks and whines on stage
• not of her sexuality, but emotional
intensity
• very painful for her, “It's like going to
a funeral''
IMAGE INDEX
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Slide 7:
Photograph of John BALDESARRI.
BALDESARRI, John. What is Art? (1966‐68), Synthetic polymer
paint on canvas, 67 ¾ x 56 ¾ in., The Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA), New York.
(Left) Nauman’s Anti‐Form The True Artist Helps the World by
Revealing Mystic Truths (1967); and (right) Baldesarri’s Conceptual
What Is Painting (1966‐68)
BALDESARRI, John. I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art (1971),
Lithograph, 22 3/8 x 29 9/16 in., Nova Scotia College of Art and
Design Lithography Workshop (publisher and printer), edition of
50, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
BALDESARRI, John. Five Pickles (with Fingerprints) in the Shape of
a Hand (1975), Chromogenic color prints and pencil, 20 1/16 x 23
7/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
BALDESARRI, John. High Flight (1986), Gelatin silver prints with oil
tint and synthetic polymer paint, mounted and framed, Overall 8' 7
3/8 x 64 5/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
IMAGE INDEX
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BALDESARRI, John. High Flight (1986), Gelatin silver prints with oil
tint and synthetic polymer paint, mounted and framed, Overall 8' 7
3/8 x 64 5/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
BALDESARRI, John. Untitled (1986), Crayon and pressure‐sensitive
stickers on synthetic polymer sheet overlay on gelatin silver print,
9 ¾ x 7 3/8 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
Photograph of GILBERT and GEORGE.
GILBERT and GEORGE, The Singing Sculpture (1969).
GILBERT and GEORGE, Bad Thoughts (1975).
GILBERT AND GEORGE, Gingko Pictures (2005).
GILBERT AND GEORGE, The Jack Freak Pictures (2008).
Photograph of Laurie ANDERSON.
ANDERSON, Laurie. Duets on Ice (1974)
ANDERSON, Laurie. United States (1980).
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IMAGE INDEX
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Slide 18:
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Photograph of Karen FINLEY.
FINLEY, Karen. We Keep Our Victims Ready (1989)
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