John Baldessari sculpture - Ear Trumpet
Beethoven's Trumpet (with Ear) Opus # 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135, 2007
resin, fiberglass, bronze, aluminum, and electronics
73 x 72 x 105 inches (185 x 183 x 267 cm)
series of 6
Beethoven’s Trumpet: In One Ear & Out the Same Ear is John Baldessari's first ever sculptural project. An edition of six, this series represents a significant and exciting expansion of Baldessari’s practice, while maintaining a strong conceptual resonance with his two-dimensional work.
The sculpture greets viewers with a large bronze colored ear trumpet suspended four feet off the ground and extending out into space. The trumpet is held aloft by an equally oversized white ear, which is mounted to the wall. When a viewer speaks into the trumpet, the voice triggers a short musical phrase drawn from one of Beethoven’s Late String Quartets (Opuses 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, and 135), written while the composer was completely deaf. Each work in the series plays a different musical phrase.
Exhibited
John Baldessari: Music, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2007
John Baldessari: Music, Bonner Kunstverein, 2007
The Arts Club of Chicago, 2008
The Saatchi Gallery, London, 2011
Wonder World, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 2011
The Art of Music, San Diego Museum of Art, 2015; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City 2016
About the Artist
John Baldessari (b. 1931, National City, CA) attended San Diego State University and did post-graduate work at Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA from 1970 - 1988 and the University of California at Los Angeles from 1996 - 2007.
Baldessari's artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in over 1000 group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His practice also includes artist books, videos, films, billboards and public works. Recent projects include the traveling career retrospective John Baldessari: Pure Beauty (2009-2011), and release of the John Baldessari Catalogue Raisonné, Volumes 1-3, with Yale University Press.