John Baldessari

Garbage! Absolute Garbage! That would have been my response and opinion of John Baldessari’s work if the field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla was held in the first week or second week of this Art History course. Admittedly, I had to make a concerted effort not to raise that “shield of indifference” that I normally bring up when exposed to modern or contemporary art. Prior to the museum visit I did not do much research on Baldesarri other than lightly glancing through his Wikipedia page on the Internet. My first assumption was that he was probably some kooky old fart that was way out there if he was making contemporary art at eighty-one years old. Considering myself a neophyte in the world or art, I did not recognize many of Baldessari’s pieces to be interesting or even eye catching save for a few of his more recent works. The ones that did catch my eye in particular was the Foot and Stocking line of screen prints as they were the the easiest to interpret and allowed me to ever so slightly gain a better understanding of some of his earlier works.
The Foot and Stocking line of photos consists of six different works depicting a black-sock covered foot set up against a background with a combination of three
Being a Computer Science major I felt that it would be a waste of time to take any art class. Prior to this course I had either a hostile or indifferent attitude towards modern/contemporary art depending on my mood. I did not think I would learn anything that would apply to my life as I was not an artist and had no aspirations to become one. As this course progressed so did my feelings towards art. Instead of indifference or hostility it now sits at slightly mild interest to indifference. I see it as a first step in the right