John Baldessari and Marian Goodman are long-time collaborators. Though this is only his second show with Goodman's London outpost, the 85-year-old American art icon has had over a dozen shows with the gallery internationally since 1990.
His new survey comprises 25 movie stills, each paired with an unrelated Joan Miró painting. A seemingly random word – ‘Apropos’, ‘True’, ‘Unfailing’ – is printed across the bottom.
'Right', by John Baldessari, 2016. Photography: Joshua White
Making things even trickier to decipher, Baldessari is keeping the names of the original films close to his chest. You'd have to be a serious buff to recognise them all (or any), particularly with large sections blocked out by thick blobs of colourful paint, in Baldessari-bright blues, greens and reds.
Gallery director Valerie Blair confirms that we're not wrong in thinking that the exhibition teems with classic Baldessari wit and absurdity. 'The works are imbued with John’s typical sense of humour – making puns, playing with the relationship between words and images, pop culture and high culture.'
'Reliable', by John Baldessari, 2016. Photography: Joshua White
It's far from nonsensical, though. Blair notes something many of the private-view goers probably missed, whilst lunging for a mini hotdog or other such American-themed canapes – that the title of each work is a synonym of another. 'Necessary' and 'Incumbent', for instance. With this in mind, the exhibition becomes a conundrum that the viewers must work out. Baldessari, in Blair's opinion, is asking 'viewers to respond in their own way and to create their own new composite meaning'. In traditional Baldessari style, it's not the meaning, but the figuring out that's important.
A 'random' word is printed below each set of works
The title of each work is a synonym of another
INFORMATION
'Miró and Life In General' is on view until 25 February. For more information, visit the Marian Goodman website
ADDRESS
5-8 Lower John Street
London W1F 9DY
-
ICON 4x4 goes EV, giving their classic Bronco-based restomod an electric twistThe EV Bronco is ICON 4x4’s first foray into electrifying its range of bespoke vintage off-roaders and SUVs
-
‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960sA new photography book from The Anonymous Project showcases its subjects when they’re dressed for best, posing for events and celebrations unknown
-
Inside Camperlab’s Harry Nuriev-designed Paris store, a dramatic exercise in contrastThe Crosby Studios founder tells Wallpaper* the story behind his new store design for Mallorcan shoe brand Camperlab, which centres on an interplay between ‘crushed concrete’ and gleaming industrial design
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate BritainIn his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desireIn a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
-
A portrait of the artist: Sotheby’s puts Grayson Perry in the spotlightFor more than a decade, photographer Richard Ansett has made Grayson Perry his muse. Now Sotheby’s is staging a selling exhibition of their work
-
From counter-culture to Northern Soul, these photos chart an intimate history of working-class Britain‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’ is at Edinburgh gallery Stills
-
Celia Paul's colony of ghostly apparitions haunts Victoria MiroEerie and elegiac new London exhibition ‘Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts’ is on show at Victoria Miro until 17 April
-
Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work
-
Sylvie Fleury's work in dialogue with Matisse makes for a provocative exploration of the female form'Drawing on Matisse, An Exhibition by Sylvie Fleury’ is on show until 2 May at Luxembourg + Co
