Teaching a Plant the Alphabet is an exercise in futility, an absurdist lesson in cognition and recognition. The scenario is elementary: A small potted plant sits atop a stool. In the role of teacher, Baldessari holds up a series of children's alphabet cards in sequence, repeating each letter to the plant until he has completed the alphabet. The plant, of course, does not respond. Eliciting deadpan humor from the incongruous juxtaposition of the rote instruction and the uncomprehending pupil, Baldessari creates illogic from a logical construct, making nonsense from sense. An elaboration of working notes in which Baldessari wrote, "Is it worth it to teach plants the alphabet?" this piece also responds to Joseph Beuys' 1965 performance How to explain pictures to a dead hare.
John Baldessari, Teaching a Plant the Alphabet, 1972
00:18:08 | United States | English | B&W | Mono | 4:3 | 1/2" open reel video
b. 1931
John Baldessari was an American Conceptual artist known for his pioneering use of appropriated imagery. By blending photography, painting, and text, Baldessari’s work examines the plastic nature of artistic media while offering commentary on our contemporary culture. “I’ve often thought of myself as a frustrated writer,” he explained. “I consider a word and an image of equal weight, and a lot of my work comes out of that kind of thinking.” Through a diverse practice that includes paintings, sculpture, and installations, the artist shaped the Conceptual Art landscape alongside Joseph Kosuth and Hans Haacke, garnering early acclaim for his signature use of colourful dots atop photographic images. Born on June 17, 1931 in National City, CA, Baldessari has been instrumental in the West Coast art scene and influenced many younger artists through his long teaching career. While at CalArts in the 1970s, he taught David Salle, Mike Kelley, and Tony Oursler, among others. The celebrated artist was a recipient of the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded by the Venice Biennale. In 2010, the artist was the subject of a retrospective “John Baldessari: Pure Beauty” which included more than 150 works made between 1962 and 2010. The artist passed away at age 88 on January 2, 2020 at his home in the Venice neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Baldessari’s works are currently held in the collections several museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
