John Baldessari
Pure Beauty
Tate Modern 13 October 2009 – 10 January 2010
Explore:
Room 13
In the Goya Series Baldessari returns to the relationship between language and image, pairing photographs of banal objects with non-specific, yet evocative words derived from titles used by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. In isolation both image and text are meaningless, but when combined they generate the possibility of multiple readings.
The Prima Facie series tests whether a word can accurately describe a facial expression. Applying words to film stills and therefore to acted emotions, Baldessari sought to show that while we may think we understand something at first glance, it becomes more complicated when we try to prove it. Baldessari’s investigations follow through several states until the facial expression is replaced with a square of commercial paint, with the manufacturer's name for the colour inscribed beneath it.
The face and facial features are recurring subjects for Baldessari. In the series Noses & Ears Etc. the whole face is coloured and flattened, except for the most bizarre appendages, a nose or an ear and sometimes both. While humorous, there is an element of aggression in these works. Faces are disfigured, titles mention fists rather than hands, and blood trickles from an isolated nose on a green head-shape.
