Wrong

© John Baldessari 1966-1968. Courtesy Estate of John Baldessari
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Wrong

1966-1968
Paintings
Photoemulsion with acrylic on canvas
59 x 45 in. (149.86 x 114.3 cm)
Contemporary Art Council (M.71.40)
Contemporary Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

A pioneer of Conceptual art, John Baldessari worked at a time during which the object was in disrepute and ideas reigned....
A pioneer of Conceptual art, John Baldessari worked at a time during which the object was in disrepute and ideas reigned. His exploration of language questions the very nature of communication, a subject that grows more complex with each technological advance. In Wrong, an early and pivotal example of Conceptualism, Baldessari is photographed with a palm tree seemingly growing out of his head (a well-known error in photographic composition). The title Wrong is meant to refer to multiple types of "wrongness" and also be ironic: a basic tenet of Modern art and the avant-garde is that there are no inviolable rules or universal standards when it comes to making, conceiving, or judging art. As Baldessari explained, "I loved the idea that somebody would just say that this is right and this is wrong. So I decided I would have . . . a work of art that was wrong—which seemed right to me."
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Label

A pioneer of Conceptual art, John Baldessari’s exploration of language questions the very nature of communication, a subject that grows more complex with each technological advance....
A pioneer of Conceptual art, John Baldessari’s exploration of language questions the very nature of communication, a subject that grows more complex with each technological advance. In Wrong—an early and pivotal example of conceptualism—Baldessari is photographed with a palm tree seemingly growing out of his head, exemplifying a well-known error in photographic composition. The title is meant to refer to multiple types of “wrongness” and also may be ironic: a basic tenet of avant-garde art is that there are no inviolable rules or universal standards when it comes to making, conceiving, or judging art. As Baldessari explained, “I love the idea that somebody would just say that this is right and this is wrong. So I decided I would have. . . a work of art that was wrong— which seems right to me.”

Baldessari played an important role as a widely respected mentor and teacher at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and the University of California, Los Angeles between 1970 and 2008.

Exhibition wall label, 2021.
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Bibliography

  • Engler, Martin, ed. John Baldessari: The Städel Paintings. Munich: Hirmer, 2015.

  • Tuchman, Maurice.  Ten Years of Contemporary Art Council Acquisitions: Inaugurating The New Contemporary Art Galleries.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1973.

  • Engler, Martin, ed. John Baldessari: The Städel Paintings. Munich: Hirmer, 2015.

  • Tuchman, Maurice.  Ten Years of Contemporary Art Council Acquisitions: Inaugurating The New Contemporary Art Galleries.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1973.
  • A Focus on California:  Selections from the Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.
  • Grundberg, Andy; Gauss, Kathleen McCarthy. Photography and Art:  Interactions Since 1946. Fort Lauderdale, Florida:  Museum of Art; Los Angeles, CA:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
  • Barron, Stephanie, Michel Draguet, and Sara Cochran. Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Belgium: Ludion, 2006.
  • Mark, Lisa Gabrielle; Paul Schimmel, eds. Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Munich; New York : DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2011.
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