No Sleep Til

“I’m always interested in things that we don’t call art. What could I do this to make it art? How could I change people’s minds?”
—John Baldessari

Happy birthday today (June 17) to John Baldessari, our current 100 Artists featured artist. Art21 first filmed with the artist in 2008 for Season 5 of Art21’s Art in the Twenty-First Century series.

WATCH: John Baldessari in Systems [available in the U.S. only] | Additional videos

IMAGES (all excluding bottom): Works by John Baldessari included as part of an exhibition of selections from the Broad Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2008. Production stills from the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 5 episode, Systems, 2009. Artwork © John Baldessari. Production still © Art21, Inc. 2009.

IMAGE (bottom): John Baldessari in his studio, Venice, CA, 2008. Production still from the Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 5 episode, Systems, 2009. Production still © Art21, Inc. 2009.

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Notes

likeafieldmouse:

Francis Alys - Fabiola (2008)

“The story of St. Fabiola, a 4th-century Roman aristocrat from the Fabia family who is supposed to have been an early Mother Teresa, became popular in the late 19th century, and an 1885 portrait of her by a French academician (which is now lost) has since been endlessly copied around the world.

Appearing on postcards, posters and religious trinkets, Fabiola has been a beloved subject for countless painters, most of them amateurs. The portrait’s format is almost always the same: Fabiola is seen in profile facing left, her head covered by a rich red veil.

Mr. Alys, who was born in Belgium in 1959 and moved to Mexico City in 1990, began collecting Fabiola paintings—as the genre is called—about 15 years ago, buying them at thrift shops, flea markets and antiques stores primarily in Mexico and Europe. He has previously shown his collection three times, when it was much smaller; the current presentation includes more than 300 works.”

Francis Alys: one of my top 5. What a quiet, brilliant collection.

(via wnycradiolab)

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