Six Colorful Inside Jobs, 1977
16 mm color film transferred to video (color, silent)
30 min
© courtesy John Baldessari

Baldessari’s use of colour involves seemingly arbitrary but internally logical systems. Here, a young man, a student of Baldessari’s, paints a room six times in succession, a different colour for each day of the week except Sunday, the traditional day of rest. Baldessari did not coach the student about procedure but did choose the colours himself. He had worked as a housepainter while young and this work, which questions the distinction between the housepainter and the artist, the paint chip and the work of art, has deep roots in the artist’s life.