I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

John Baldessari

1971

Lithograph on ivory paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The artwork consists of the phrase "I will not make any more boring art" repeated multiple times in black cursive handwriting on a white background. John Baldessari used chance, irony, and paradox to challenge the high seriousness of contemporary art. His work was often conceptual, as seen in this tongue-in-cheek lithograph featuring a self-referential caveat declaring art must never be mundane. Unable to fulfill a commitment to visit the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in person, Baldessari instead asked the student artists to repeatedly write the title phrase featured in this print, completely filling the four walls of a gallery. Baldessari performed the same activity on videotape, which was later shown in the gallery, and wittily documented the whole affair with this se