John Baldessari & Matt Mullican

The title of this work is derived from one of the first video games. Pong was brought out as an arcade game by Atari in 1972 and was based on ping pong – table tennis. It is a perfect metaphor for the collaboration between conceptual artist John Baldessari and his former student Matt Mullican. This work is a volley of objects. Baldessari sent Mullican a group of found photos, who then selected one photo and adapted it. In this way, they entered into a conversation with each other, always replying to each other via objects. The chain reaction of artworks that followed consists of texts, photos, digital prints, collages, paintings, tiles and other objects that the artists encountered during their game.

Looking at Baldessari’s last reaction, it seems as if he beat Matt Mullican in the end with Pong: Retort, an abstract print with three circles in red, yellow and green, which immediately reminds one of a traffic light. Despite the black cross next to the red circle, Mullican refuses to admit defeat, so he strikes back with two last works: It’s My Five Worlds!, in which he transforms the traffic light by adding two circles, and X Marks the Subjective, an enormous oil painting based on Baldessari’s red circle, but strikingly filled with writings and drawings.

The viewer is carried away by the exciting match between teacher and former student, with the contrast between the two styles and methods of the artists as a fascinating element. Baldessari targets Mullican with razor- sharp provocations, and Mullican retorts with elaborate and smart responses. Does the teacher always remain the master, or has the student surpassed his teacher?

Nest ruimte voor kunst
ExhibitionsEvents
Nest

Double Plus Good

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All images
Artists
Curators
  • Heske ten Cate
  • Laurie Cluitmans
In collaboration with
  • Aveline de Bruin

The group exhibition Double Plus Good presents artworks that are the result of one-off collaborations between artists. The artists in this exhibition take the vulnerable step to open up their practice to other makers, and explore each other’s world of thinking through paper, films and installations. What drives artists to engage in occasional or long-term collaboration with other makers or thinkers?

Double Plus Good includes collaborations between teachers and (former) students, between lovers and loners, between different generations and artists with a shared history. Together they enter a conversation with each other in their work, challenge each other to take the next step or to delve deeper into their matter.

The exhibition is a follow-up to ‘Collaborations’, an exhibition that Aveline de Bruin, of the Collection de Bruin-Heijn, previously showed in the Portuguese Quetzal Art Center and is being further developed and curated with her, curator contemporary art Centraal Museum Laurie Cluitmans and artistic director of Nest Heske ten Cate.

Read the introduction ‘Collaboration creates community‘ that Heske ten Cate wrote for the exhibition and her reflection on a period of intensive collaborations at Nest, as well as the essay ‘Nothing makes itself‘ by Laurie Cluitmans. Everything about the exhibition and the artists can be read here.

Collectie de Bruin-Heijn
The collection of Cees and Inge de Bruin-Heijn grew into one of the largest private collections in the Netherlands. The De Bruin-Heijn collection is managed by their daughter Aveline de Bruin, and in 2016 the family opened their own exhibition space for contemporary art: Quetzal Art Center in Vidigueira, Portugal.

Sponsors
  • Mondriaan Fonds
  • Stroom Den Haag
  • Gemeente Den Haag
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