This Is Not To Be Looked At, 1966-1968

John Baldessari’sThis Is Not to Be Looked Atconsists of
a black-and-white photographic print (depicting an issue ofArtforummagazine) of a reproduction (on
the magazine’s cover) of a painting (minimalist artist Frank Stella’s 1966Union III), on canvas. Baldessari’s
bald-faced appropriation and layering of preexisting images demonstrates his skepticism
about artistic originality. He even hired a professional sign painter to write
the caption “THIS IS NOT TO BE LOOKED AT.” That phrase paradoxically implies that
visual contemplation is neither the best nor only way to engage with art. Baldessari’s
defiant refusal to produce beautiful, original images suggests that art can be something
other than an optical experience. He proposes instead that what is central is
the artist’s concept or idea, irrespective of the artwork’s visual, material form.