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Artist Says L.A. is Ugly... In a Good Way!
© 2001 Kim Schoenstadt (via Baldessari's website)
Native Californian and artist John Baldessari lives in the aesthetic ghetto of Los Angeles, and in a recent talk with the L.A. Times' Christopher Knight, said plainly that this city's ugliness is a necessity for him to create his art."I live here because L.A. is ugly," he told Knight in conversation at the Hammer. "If I lived in a great beautiful city, why would I do art? I always have to be slightly angry to do art and L.A. provides that."
Baldessari is know for making some curious observations of late. He also recently recorded a video about the Pacific Standard Time exhibits in which he compared art to eating Velveeta cheese.
Baldessari's work is being shown in 11 PST exhibits.
Here's the clip of the interview with Knight:
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