1208 - John Baldessari, Hot Tub, colour offset print, annual gift of the kestnergesellschaft 2016

John Baldessari, Hot Tub, colour offset print, annual gift of the kestnergesellschaft 2016 (1931 National City, California – 2020 Venice, California), colour offset print on board, stamp-signed verso „BALDESSARI“ and stamp-dated 2016 as well as numbered 3523/3700. A colour photograph of two persons in an outdoor hot tub: at the left a man in a blue denim shirt supporting a filled drinking glass on the wooden rim of the pool, at the right a person in a pink shirt in the foaming water. Both faces are covered by scribbled ovals of colour in orange-red and violet. In the background green plants and woven willow baskets. Good condition, edges and upper area slightly rubbed. Image 24.5 x 34.5 cm (HxW) John Baldessari is among the most influential conceptual artists of the United States. In 1970 he had all the paintings made between 1953 and 1966 burned and turned to the combination of photography, language and painting. Covering faces with coloured dots and shapes, which directs the gaze away from the person and towards posture, gesture and pictorial structure, became characteristic. As a long-standing teacher at the California Institute of the Arts he shaped several generations of artists. „Hot Tub“ appeared in 2016 as the annual gift of the kestnergesellschaft in Hanover in its anniversary year.