John Baldessari
Junctions and Intersections
October 31, 2002–February 28, 2003
Cologne
Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers show new works by John Baldessari.
The exhibition includes works from the INTERSECTION SERIES, on which Baldessari has been working since the beginning of the year. He takes found pictures of different provenance, arranges them in cross and T-shapes and in this way overlaps, i.e. formally crosses, as in a double exposure, manifesting a new level, which he reworks with painterly means.
In many of his groups of works, Baldessari takes images out of their contexts, be it film stills, press photos, somehow found photos, or self-made snapshots, all of which together form a reservoir of images without hierarchy, which the artist makes use of. In many cases, he reworks the photos by almost imperceptible retouching or striking and combinations. In the INTERSECTION SERIES (and on the previous OVERLAP SERIES) these interventions are particularly striking: in the area of the intersection the black and white photos are painted over in colour, creating a double interface between the photographs and the media used.
Baldessari's photo-collages tell stories with many missing links; this discontinuity, the invisible and the unknown evoke personal as well as collective readings. "I really care about meaning in art. I want things to look simple, but to raise issues and to have more than one level of comprehension".
