John Baldessari
Wall Painting

Exhibition: July 26 – August 31
Forum: 1.00pm, Saturday August 31

Renowned American conceptual artist John Baldessari’s Wall Painting will be staged at UQ Art Museum in collaboration with UQ students. Existing only as a concept for over 50 years, Wall Painting was first initiated in late 2017 by curator Tara McDowell at Monash University, Melbourne. The concept is simple: each day, for 31 days two UQ students are invited to paint one wall of the UQ Art Museum a single colour – any colour – of their choosing, in exchange for an honorarium. Participants negotiate with one another to learn about time, decision-making and its relationship to their labour.

 

John Baldessari is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the last fifty years. Initially a gestural painter, his later practice is concerned with investigating the problems he identified in contemporary art, explored humorously by incorporating text into his paintings. Baldessari was born in National City, California in 1931. Recent exhibitions include: John Baldessari, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland (2018); All Z’s (Picabia/Mondrian), Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (2018); John Baldessari: Interference effects, selections from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family foundation, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana (2018); and John Baldessari: BLAH, Mixografia, Los Angeles (2018).
 

John Baldessari, Wall Painting, initially curated by Tara McDowell at MADA Gallery, Monash University in October–November 2017. Photo: Melissa Vallence.