John Baldessari

Born in 1931 in National City, California, he has lived in Santa Monica, California, since 1970 • Since the 1970s, Baldessari has focused primarily on photography • Both in his own photos and increasingly in his examination of newspaper photos and still images from feature films, he explores mechanisms of representation, vision, and body language • In collages, cut-ups, and series, he layers visual and semantic levels on top of each other • In recent years, painting has returned to his film collages • Baldessari is considered one of the most influential artists of the present day • His work was shown at Documenta in 1972 and 1982, and in 1981 the New Museum of Contemporary Arts in Los Angeles organized a second exhibition, which was shown in six other museums. His work has been and continues to be exhibited worldwide.