John Baldessari: Original, Controversial, Formidable, Intelligent
John Baldessari (1931-2020) made art for 50 years, mainly in Los Angeles, where he was considered essential to the city’s significance as a contemporary art capital. He developed a conceptual approach to art that played with and studied the conventions and pieties of being an artist. His art is known for its deep intelligence as well as its humor, often placing images from popular culture in dialogue with principles and themes from art history. The innovations of Baldessari’s work can be found running through so many of the works in the Broad collection, especially in the practices of Sherrie Levine, Glenn Ligon, Robert Longo, and Cindy Sherman. We are proud to have more than 40 of his works in our collection.