John Baldessari: Pure Beauty Hardcover – November 25, 2009

I have found images of Baldessari's work in art magazines such as Art and Auction, and have found them to be intriguing and challenging, so I was excited to get a large format book that promised essays and over 400 illustrations presented in full color. Much to my surprise dozens of the color illustrations are as small as 1X1.5 inches! Dozens more of the B&W images are even smaller. I literally needed a magnifying glass to recognize what was in the pictures.A secondary issue I have with the book is that contrary to Baldessari's claim that, "I am interested in what gets us to stop and look, as opposed to simply consuming images passively," much of the work presented is just boring. I was not compelled to stop and look. Instead, I turned each page hoping this wasn't just an expensive mistake. Fortunately amazon allows one to return and item that has been misrepresented in its description.

Everything about this purchase was outstanding. The book came in perfect condition, and the seller shipped it with lightning speed. Incredible. This gives a great name for Amazon, so support this seller. I sure do.

John is great!

An incredibly important book by one of our most significant artists. The catalogue raisonne currently being published by Yale is much more thorough but this serves as the best and most accessible work on Baldessari.

thank you