The Artist Project is a collection of thought-provoking interviews published in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Featuring 120 artists, the online publication is incredibly insightful in showcasing some of the Met’s most iconic artworks accompanied by the works and observations of contemporary artists. Although all of these episodes are interesting in their own right, one of my favourites would have to be John Baldessari speaking on Philip Guston.
John Baldessari is known as a ‘conceptual’ artist (despite the misnomer of this label) whose poetically profound work is equally as witty, hilarious and absurd. It makes complete sense for Baldessari to select an artist like Guston and I enjoyed his ability to talk about the work in a way that was sharp and informative, yet funny and engaging.
Baldessari begins by detailing his own interest in Guston and his fascination with work that straddles the line between art and non-art. He amusingly calls Guston a “really dumb artist” and commends his work’s ability to “de-skill” itself in it’s desaturation of sophistication. Baldessari seems to be most interested in the simplicity of the work’s form, where little to no information is provided and forms are able to act interchangeably. In addition, Baldessari cleverly notes Guston’s use of macabre humour; a laugh that is shadowed by the brevity of life, claiming that only the “poetic mind would think that death is absurd and funny.”
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