John Baldessari creates Billboard for ARTSPACE
In his first show in New Zealand John Baldessari has created a new work specifically for the ARTSPACE billboard project. Baldessari worked with Samoan New Zealander Joseph Churchward, the famous typographer and has employed the typeface 'Churchward Montezuma 96 Extra Bold' to comment on the simple text “Learn to dream.” This is the third ARTSPACE billboard project in partnership with the Langham Hotel and it is now up on the corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street. ARTSPACE Director Brian Butler says, “In this billboard project Baldessari utilizes the advertising format to prod or encourage the general public to think or in this case, dream as a knowing activity.” John Baldessari was one of the principle artists in the conceptual art movement based in California in the 1960s. As one of the founding teachers at the California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS) from1970 – 1988 and through teaching at the University of California (UCLA) in Los Angeles from 1996 – 2007, his impact on the development of art has been profound. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards. His awards include; the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Upcoming awards include the Oscar Kokoschka Prize from Austria. John Baldessari’s projects include artist books, videos, films, billboards and public works. His art has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe and in over 750 group exhibitions. Recent projects include; solo shows in New York, Europe, and Los Angeles including retrospectives in 2005 at; the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien in Vienna, Austria, the Kunsthaus Graz in Graz in Austria, and at the Carré d'art, musée d'art contemporain in Nimes, France. Upcoming projects and exhibitions include; Fondazione Prada in Milan, and a major travelling retrospective that begins at the Tate Modern in London in 2009. ARTSPACE uses the Langham Hotel’s billboard for contemporary art projects. The space provides an opportunity for the invited artist to work on a massive scale, measuring 22.5 x 4 metres. We would like to thank Joseph Churchward and Warren Olds, and acknowledge the generous support of the Langham Hotel, Omnigraphics, Billboard Solutions and Karangahape Road Business Association.
