John Anthony Baldessari is an American conceptual artist and photographer known for his work featuring wrong photography. Baldessari lives and works in California, USA, after being born in National City, California on 17th June 1931 (currently 85). He started as a painter but then began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid - 1960's. John Baldessari started working in printmaking, sculpture and photography in 1970.
Standing at over 6ft 7in, he towers over many people and has two peepholes in his office door, one for him and one for "normal" sized people. He attended San Diego State University and taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California from 1970 - 1988 and the University of California in Los Angeles from 1996 - 2007. |
The Apple.
This photo, taken by Conceptual Artist and Photographer John Baldessari, has been edited afterwards to cover the faces of the people in the image. It shows a man eating an apple with a woman leaning over him. Parts of their bodies have been covered by one single, block of colour which makes the photo much more interesting than showing the unedited picture. This use of blocking adds mystery to the photograph because the faces and certain parts of their bodies have been edited or covered which raises many questions. This is a colour photograph which has been edited afterwards to add the vibrant shapes. The background could also have been edited because it is completely black and looks unnatural. |
Tiger Trainer.
This photo, which was taken by John Baldessari, shows an animal (Tiger) leaping through a hoop of fire in a circus environment. The tiger in the foreground and three people's faces in the background have been covered (similar to the image above) in order to make the image much more compelling. There is a young woman in the middle ground smiling at what is going on. Apart from the vivid shapes edited onto the photograph afterwards, there is no other colour as the photo was taken in black and white. This could be due to the age of the image or used by the photographer for effect. |