Find the most puzzling kind of art you can think of, and then go out and try to approximate it with your camera. Take a photograph that corresponds to it. (Assignment to students.) John Baldessari More Quotes by John Baldessari More Quotes From John Baldessari I was getting tired of hearing the complaint, "My kid could do this," and "We don't get it. What's modern art? Blah, blah, blah." And I wondered what would really happen if you gave people what they wanted, something they always look at. John Baldessari tired kids art I go back and forth between wanting to be abundantly simple and maddeningly complex. John Baldessari back-and-forth complexes simple If I saw the art around me that I liked, then I wouldn't do art. John Baldessari saws ifs art I will not make anymore boring art. John Baldessari boring art A TWO-DIMENSIONAL SURFACE WITHOUT ANY ARTICULATION IS A DEAD EXPERIENCE John Baldessari articulation surface two Talent is cheap, you have to be possessed or obsessed, rather. You really have to feel like you cannot not do art, and that is something you can't will. John Baldessari talent like-you art I think art, if it's meaningful at all, is a conversation with other artists. You say something, they say something, you move back and forth. John Baldessari meaningful art moving I don't try to be funny. It's just that I feel the world is a little bit absurd and off-kilter and I'm sort of reporting. John Baldessari littles trying world Look at the subject as if you have never seen it before. Examine it from every side. Draw its outline with your eyes or in the air with your hands, and saturate yourself with it. John Baldessari eye air hands Well, why is this art? Why isn't that art? John Baldessari wells art If you're smart, you abandon the things that didn't work out so well, and you enlarge upon the things that seem to be successful. John Baldessari smart work-out successful Probably one of the worst things that happened to photography is that cameras have viewfinders. John Baldessari worst cameras photography I was always interested in language. I thought, why not? If a painting, by the normal definition of the term, is paint on canvas, why can't it be painted words on canvas? John Baldessari why-not normal definitions I used to jokingly say, "I don't teach art. I'm an art doctor." Students come to me and say, "My art's sick," and we help them make it well. John Baldessari doctors sick art The idea of vaudeville clowns and court jesters is always to show the flaw, to point out what's not working and why it's not coherent. John Baldessari vaudeville flaws ideas I could never figure out why photography and art had separate histories. So I decided to explore both. John Baldessari figures photography art There's no such thing as a bad photograph. John Baldessari photograph photography Artists are better at finding a way to kill their time. John Baldessari findings artist way I can't imagine a life without thinking, doing art. I don't feel any need to be a world traveler or an adventurer. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing. I think somehow I know that I should have a larger vision of art, but I can't think of what that would be. John Baldessari should-have art thinking Writing helped me understand what I was thinking about. John Baldessari writing thinking
