John Baldessari was born in 1931. The American is a leading exponent of conceptual art. He has been one of the key figures of the contemporary art world since the 1960s. In 1970 his “Cremation Project”, in which he burned all the paintings he had made between 1953 and 1966, caused a sensation. His subsequent work has revolved around the interactions between language and image as two forms of expression. Since the late 60s, the artist has been using image material from the mass media which he has combined with writing in many groups of works. 

Beatrix Ruf, Curator of the Ringier Collection and Director of the Kunsthalle in Zurich, writes about the artist: “John Baldessari juggles with themes of composition, omission and rhythmicity. Through the sequence of pages of the annual report, the reader may form an overall impression, while at the same time examining his own memories and preconceptions. Using fragmented visual information, Baldessari creates references to the way in which information and its construction is generally handled. And he does so in the annual report of a media corporation which itself deals on a daily basis with the evocation, recollection and manipulability of images”. Michael Ringier himself justifies the choice of the artist in these terms: “Our journalists may wholeheartedly embrace John Baldessari as their role model”. After all, one of his most familiar works is entitled: “I will not make any more boring art”. Michael Ringier smiles: “What applies for Baldessari’s art should also be the golden rule for our journalists in every country”. 

The Ringier annual report is available in German, English and French. 

Ringier Group Communications