John Baldessari, Pictures & Scripts: A glass of water sweetheart (2015), all images courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery

On view at both Marian Goodman Gallery, London and Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris are two simultaneous exhibitions by John Baldessari: Pictures & Scripts and Early Work. The London gallery’s Pictures & Scripts show focuses on a series of new works, while the Paris gallery will show a selection of the artist’s important early catalog.

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John Baldessari, Your Name in Lights (2014), via Andrea Nguyen for Art Observed

Artist John Baldessari has brought his popular Your Name in Lights piece to Paris, allowing 100,000 people to submit their name in hopes of seeing it emblazoned on the façade of the Monnaie de Paris, shining out on the Seine between the Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts. (more…)

John Baldessari, Double Play: Eggs and Sausage (2012), Courtesy of Champagne Holdings, LLC © John Baldessari

On view at Garage Moscow, co-curated by Garage’s new Chief Curator Kate Fowle and International Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist, 1+1=1 is the first exhibition of work by John Baldessari in Russia. The exhibition is a compilation of Baldessari’s most recent series of paintings, exploring the relationship between text and image in visual art.

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John Baldessari, Man Fixing Curlers in Woman’s Hair (2013), all images by Sophie Kitching for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

On view at Sprüth Magers Berlin is a solo exhibition of new works by L.A.-based John Baldessari: large-format storyboard canvases he created in 2013.

The opening for John Baldessari’s Storyboard (in 4 Parts)
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As he prepares to open his first exhibition in Russia, the Financial Times has sat down with artist John Baldessari to discuss the artist’s ongoing work, and his irreverent view for the art-industrial complex: “I was getting mildly irritated by artists getting branded – ‘This is a Warhol’, ‘This is a de Kooning’ – and you don’t even look. It just has to look like a brand,” He says.  “And I said, I wonder if I can slow that down.” (more…)

The newest issue of Garage Magazine is featuring a diptych cover, created in a collaboration between fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh, and artist John Baldessari.  Photographing supermodel Adriana Lima, Inez and Vinoodh then turned the image over to Baldessari, who abstracted the image in his signature color overlays.  The issue also features an interview with Baldessari, whose solo show at the Garage Center in Moscow opens this fall. (more…)

With the opening of Richard Artschwager! (previously at the Whitney Museum) at the Hammer Museum this month, the institution welcomed Richard Artschwager’s contemporaries, John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha to sit down and discuss his influential practice, output, and creative legacy. “Whether he’s well known or not is not important because he’s seen widely, and if you’re interested in art you’re going to be familiar with his work.” Ruscha said. (more…)

Art F City’s weekly STUFF column took an interesting twist this week, as artist John Baldessari was invited to contribute a list of his ten most prized possessions.  Rather following his cue, the artist submitted a list of 10 incredibly wealthy individuals, including photographs of each billionaire’s personal yacht.  True to form, Baldessari’s witty subversion offers a pointed commentary on the fetishization of material objects. (more…)

Over the past two years, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist has sought to bring a controversial piece by artist John Baldessari to realization, which would require exhibiting a human cadaver in a gallery space, viewed through a small peep-hole.  The work has been attempted several times, but has faced staunch legal opposition and considerations over the will of deceased body being included in the final product.  Says Obrist: “It’s not excluded that one day it will happen. You need the consent of the person obviously before they die. At the same time you need the consent of the family as well as legal authorization.” (more…)

John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry and other notable artists have collaborated with LA-based Gemini G.E.L. gallery to support President Barack Obama in his bid for a second term. The gallery has organized 150 portfolios of limited edition prints and artworks that will be on show to the public starting Sept 13.  In further related, artist Chuck Close,who crafted the large-scale tapestry of Obama that was visible during the Democratic National Convention, may also be lending financial support through sales of more tapestries, ranging in price from $5,000 to $100,000, at a private event at Lever House in New York on Oct 3.

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