The American artist John Baldessari died at the age of 88. His foundation confirmed the death of the California native on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported. Baldessari had significantly shaped conceptual art in the past decades with photo and video works, collages and photo-montages and inspired numerous young artists.
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Baldessari has received numerous awards. Among other things, he received the Golden Lion of the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 for his life’s work and the Kaiserring of the German city of Goslar in 2012, which is one of the world’s most important prizes for modern art.
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He was also the recipient of the Oskar Kokoschka Prize, which is awarded every two years in Austria by a ten-member jury chaired by the Rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Baldessari had designed the iron curtain for the Vienna State Opera for the 2017/18 season: in the 176-square-meter large image, the artist started with the title “Graduation” from the black and white photo of a university group. Baldessari had painted over five members of the formation in bright colors.
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