Vanessa Joan Müller on John Baldessari

Why is it that his work is still regarded as undoubtedly ‘conceptual’ although he has his roots in Pop Art? Baldessari still has a major impact on a younger generation of artists and photographers, partially due to his inspirational lectures at institutes such as the University of California. Recently he won the B.A. C. Laureate of 2008 and presented exhibitions in the Kunstmuseum Bonn and the Bonner Kunstverein (both 2007). In 2009, Tate Modern in London will present a major retrospective of Baldessari’s work.

Vanessa Joan Müller (b. 1968) is director of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (since 2006). She was curator for the Frankfurter Kunstverein (2000 -2005) and co-director of the European Kunsthalle in Cologne (2005-2007). Müller has written for numerous artist’s editions and catalogues, including those of De Rijke/De Rooij & Christopher Williams, Isa Genzken, Henning Bohl and Silke Schatz. She is co-author of Adorno. Die Möglichkeit des Unmöglichen (Frankfurter Kunstverein, 2003) and Palermo (Kunsthalle Düsseldorf & Künstverein Düsseldorf, 2007).