The Functions Assigned to Art and Baldessari

According to artist John Baldessari , the three functions of art are Personal, Social, and Physical. No piece of art can be assigned a specific function. It is difficult to assign on individual function to artwork because many pieces will touch upon all three. The physical function of art is most easily recognized. The physical function is derived from art of a piece that provides some type of service. For example, a Native American tomahawk weapon was created to be thrown into the flesh of enemies. The social function points out collective features of life in general. Art may address political or economic hardship as seen in works with pictures from the 1930s Great Depression. The personal function of art is the most powerful but most difficult to concretely explain. Two individuals who view an artist’s work may feel two different personal functions. These feelings could come from past memories of a loved one or other emotionally moving experiences.

Baldessari is especially interesting in his way of describing art. He first focused mainly on painting but eventually burned his work and made them into cookies – evolving the idea of art. He describes the common belief that all painting is art and art is all painting. However, art is more than that. Painting is redundant as an expression. Creativity dislocates redundancy.