Baldessari’s decades of teaching and witty art-making in Los Angeles helped define it as a visual arts cultural capital. “Inspired by the spirit of Marcel Duchamp, who overturned traditional definitions of art in the early 20th century, and by L.A. artist Edward Ruscha’s imaginative combinations of pictures and words, Baldessari explored language and mass media culture in text-and-image paintings and photo compositions derived from film stills, magazines and other sources.” – Los Angeles Times