John Baldessari - Ahmedabad 1992 - London

In the early weeks of 1992, Baldessari was invited to live and work in the expansive compound of the Sarabhai family, Indian industrialists and patrons of the arts, in the Shahibaug district of Ahmedabad.

Members of the prominent family formally set up the residency in the 1970s, but the Sarabhais were interacting with artists, designers and architects long beforehand. Like many patrons and cultural protagonists of postindependence India, they actively engaged with foreign artists and established international networks, hoping to restrain revivalist currents and promote a new vision for the country.

John Baldessari – Ahmedabad 1992 – London

Raghubir Singh, John Baldessari at The Retreat, Ahmedabad, 1992
© 2024 Succession Raghubir Singh

John Baldessari
Flower Shop/and Branch (with Green Intrusion), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with acrylic paint; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
269.2 × 208.3 cm (overall) | 106 × 82 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Street Scene (with White) Intrusion/Single Leaf (Yellow), 1992
Two color photographs with acrylic paint; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber
256.2 × 87 cm (overall) | 100 7/8 × 34 1/4 inches (overall) (framed)

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The rarely seen multi-panelled works that stem from Baldessari’s stay are a direct response to his new surroundings, which were inspiring and overwhelming in equal measure and had a lasting impact on the artist’s oeuvre. The collages are composed of his own photographs, some enhanced by paint; an eclectic mix of found imagery; rubber mudflaps painted by local sign painters; Formica pieces modelled after parts of local motorised rickshaws; and printed handmade paper collected from the Gandhi ashram in Ahmedabad. Immersing himself in Indian culture, the Californian photographed the bustling city at a time when India was subject to radical changes due to the emergence of new technologies, globalisation processes, and an influx of Westerners.

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John Baldessari
Flower Shop/and Branch (with Green Intrusion), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Flower Shop/and Branch (with Green Intrusion), 1992

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with White) Intrusion/Single Leaf (Yellow), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with White) Intrusion/Single Leaf (Yellow), 1992

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John Baldessari in Ahmedabad, 1992

“But then I wanted the work, of course, to reflect my time there, which was very limited. … Trying to absorb all of that, this completely different world.” –John Baldessari¹

The cleverly devised arrangements of Ahmedabad 1992 document this shift. Here, floating electronics in a futuristic cyberspace point towards the burgeoning technological revolution of the ’90s. There, a sense of motion and transition is reflected in the dominant motifs, including modes of transportation (motorbikes, bicycles, trucks), animals in movement (a cow trotting along the roadside or a bird in flight), and cricket being played or kites being flown. Also at constant play in the series is the alternating and interlacing of looking and being looked at, with several images either observing the action of street scenes or featuring a subject’s direct gaze, and sometimes both.

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Red and Blue Intrusion)/Landscape (with Red Shape), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with acrylic paint; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
271.8 × 210.8 cm (overall) | 107 × 83 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Green Intrusion)/Leaves (Green), 1992
Two color photographs with acrylic paint; oil enamel paint on rubber
216.5 × 86.7 cm (overall) | 85 1/4 × 34 1/8 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Red and Blue Intrusion)/Landscape (with Red Shape), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Red and Blue Intrusion)/Landscape (with Red Shape), 1992

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Green Instrusion)/Leaves (Green), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Street Scene (with Green Instrusion)/Leaves (Green), 1992

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Cornerstone aspects of Baldessari’s practice, like the mining of pre-existing imagery, fell on fertile ground in a place as visually spectacular as India.

John Baldessari
Person with Kite (With Yellow and Black Intrusions)/Feather (Flawed), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with acrylic paint and paper adhesive; one color photograph with acrylic paint; oil enamel paint on rubber
130.2 × 205.7 cm (overall) | 51 1/4 × 81 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Street Scene (With Blue Intrusion)/Single Leaf (Green), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with acrylic paint; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash and paper adhesives; acrylic paint on board; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
238.8 × 323.9 cm (overall) | 94 × 127 1/2 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Male Head (Yellow)/Women in Factory (Blue), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with oil tint; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
199.4 × 311.8 cm (overall) | 78 1/2 × 122 3/4 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Person with Kite (With Yellow and Black Intrusions)/Feather (Flawed), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Person with Kite (With Yellow and Black Intrusions)/Feather (Flawed), 1992

John Baldessari
Street Scene (With Blue Intrusion)/Single Leaf (Green), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Street Scene (With Blue Intrusion)/Single Leaf (Green), 1992

John Baldessari
Male Head (Yellow)/Women in Factory (Blue), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Male Head (Yellow)/Women in Factory (Blue), 1992

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John Baldessari
Motorbike Parking Lot (With Red and Black Intrusion)/Interior, 1992
One black-and-white photograph with acrylic paint and oil tint; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic paint and paper adhesives; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
251.5 × 200.7 cm (overall) | 99 × 79 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Two Persons Twice, 1992–95
One black-and-white photograph with oil tint; photocopy transfer with acrylic paint on handmade paper
113 x 86.4 cm | 44 1/2 x 34 inches (framed)

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Images from magazines and the everyday are deconstructed and reassembled to stress their original ambiguity or curiousness. Figures are painted over, withdrawing the underlying information and complicating the reading of the image. Also employed in the present works is the use of dots to cover faces, a predominant feature of the artist’s work from the mid-1980s onward, which simultaneously draws the eye to the point of obfuscation and redirects the viewer towards other parts of the image.

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John Baldessari
Motorbike Parking Lot (With Red and Black Intrusion)/Interior, 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Motorbike Parking Lot (With Red and Black Intrusion)/Interior, 1992

John Baldessari
Two Persons Twice, 1992–95
One black-and-white photograph with oil tint; photocopy transfer with acrylic paint on handmade paper
113 x 86.4 cm | 44 1/2 x 34 inches (framed)

John Baldessari
Two Persons Twice, 1992–95

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The resulting works, which Baldessari produced after his return to Santa Monica, expand beyond the sum of their parts and evoke the atmosphere and complexity of Indian scenery through associative juxtaposition.

John Baldessari
Two Gestures (Female), 1992
One color photograph; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
144.8 × 86.7 cm | 57 × 34 1/8 inches (framed)

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John Baldessari
Two Cyclists (Male), 1992
One color photograph with oil stick; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
148 × 87 × 3.8 cm | 58 1/4 × 34 1/4 × 1 1/2 inches (framed)

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John Baldessari
Two Gestures (Female), 1992
One color photograph; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
144.8 × 86.7 cm | 57 × 34 1/8 inches (framed)

John Baldessari
Two Gestures (Female), 1992

John Baldessari
Two Cyclists (Male), 1992
One color photograph with oil stick; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
148 × 87 × 3.8 cm | 58 1/4 × 34 1/4 × 1 1/2 inches (framed)

John Baldessari
Two Cyclists (Male), 1992

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The artist’s signature wry humour gives way to a surprisingly raw view of everyday settings. Entered into new contexts, they are recoded and refuse immediate answers, allowing viewers to generate their own responses. The residency provided him with a unique opportunity to not only observe a new environment, which in many ways contrasted his Los Angeles milieu, but also permitted him to turn a critical lens inward for a period of self-reflection.

John Baldessari
Truck (with White Intrusion)/Cow (Blue), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with oil tint; one color photograph with acrylic paint; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
181.6 × 340.4 cm (overall) | 71 1/2 × 134 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Pillar (Blue)/Two Leaves (Red), 1992
One black-and-white photograph with oil tint and acrylic wash; one color photograph; photocopy transfer on handmade paper with acrylic wash; oil enamel paint on rubber; oil enamel paint on Masonite (mounted on Formica)
198.4 × 274.3 cm (overall) | 78 1/8 × 108 inches (overall) (framed)

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John Baldessari
Truck (with White Instrusion)/Cow (Blue), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Truck (with White Instrusion)/Cow (Blue), 1992

John Baldessari
Pillar (Blue)/Two Leaves (Red), 1992 (detail)

John Baldessari
Pillar (Blue)/Two Leaves (Red), 1992

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It is the works’ contingent quality—with each element modifying the next—Baldessari’s vibrant use of colour, and the keen eye of an outsider that render the Ahmedabad series an intimate commentary on what it means to look during a moment of reinvention.

All installation views: Ben Westoby

Photo: Timo Ohler

Published in conjunction with John Baldessari’s exhibition at Sprüth Magers in London and Berlin, the accompanying catalogue presents the alluring series of mixed media assemblages Baldessari created during his residency at the Sarabhai compound in Ahmedabad. The catalogue features essays by Shanay Jhaveri and Mario D’Souza.