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Yellow, from Stonehenge (with Two Persons) (C. H. 161),
Sculpture by John Baldessari (1931-2020),
Conceived and printed in 2005,
Mixografía relief in colors, on handmade paper, signed and dated in pencil,
Edition of 60,
© Christie’s New York, sale 26 April 2011 |
| Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ |
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| | Reflection on the Contemporary Print
John Baldessari (he passed away on 2 January this year) was a conceptual artist, meaning that he focussed on the idea that his works present rather than the work itself. For conceptual art, he was also one of the most visual and figurative artists out there. He is mainly known for his altered photographs. After he grew tired of looking at the faces of those in his photographs and thought faces were a distraction, he collected price tag stickers and covered their faces. He wants the viewer to focus on what is actually going on in the photograph, rather than on the people. As humans we are naturally drawn to the faces, which can take away from the message the photograph is trying to convey. Baldessari’s works force us as a viewer to focus on analysing what the message really is, without faces being a distraction. So what is today’s message in our Gospel reading then? To love our neighbours. It doesn’t matter who they are, what faces they have, if the faces are anonymous as in our artwork, we should love everyone. That message is clear.
However I want to focus briefly on the flip side of that. Within our call to love our neighbour, we must not become so accommodating and have such a desire to please, that we become like them, at risk of losing our own identities. We are all influenced by our friends, neighbours, peer pressure, so that we are all at risk of simply wanting to follow what they do and submit consciously or unconsciously to their influence. We may begin to act like the people who surround us. If we became mere mirrors or clones of our neighbours, we would fall short of what Christ is calling us to do… We would just become impersonal, anonymous figures, like the ones in our artwork today…
by Patrick van der Vorst |  | |
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