Penguin (2018) by John BaldessariSculpture Milwaukee
In 2019, this plastic penguin stood proud outside the offices of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, USA. But what exactly was it doing there?
This penguin was actually a sculpture by the American artist John Baldessari. Made in 2018 of stainless steel, plastic, and paint, and standing exactly 6'7" tall, Baldessari considered it a cartoonish self portrait. In fact, it was the same height as Baldessari himself!
Penguin (detail) (2018) by John BaldessariSculpture Milwaukee
Baldessari was born in 1931 in National City, California. He studied for an MFA in Art History at San Diego State College, and followed that by attending the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, before taking up a professorship at the California Institute of Arts.
Growing up in the wake of the Second World War, Baldessari enjoyed the economic boom and free spirited thinking of the West Coast. His artworks often incorporated pop culture, irony, mysteries, shock and awe, and an inveterate sense of humour.
Some of his best known works are his photographic series Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (1973) and his film I Am Making Art (1971), as well as The Cremation Project (1970), which saw him burn a decade's worth of paintings that he never sold.
Penguin (2018) by John BaldessariSculpture Milwaukee
In 2007 he started making sculptures that drew on the Surrealist legacy of Marcel Duchamp and René Magritte. Enlargened ears and pineapples and carrots started appearing in museums across the world. Then, in 2018, he created this penguin.
The penguin seems so out of place, so ridiculously large, that you simply have to wonder what on earth it's doing here. Even if you hate the artwork, you can't help but stop and stare… and by causing that, Baldessari has tricked you into engaging with art.
Perhaps Baldessari, standing 6'7" tall, felt he was like this penguin - something awkward and ungainly to be stared at. It's certainly not a flattering self-portrait. But Baldessari also triumphed the role of jesters and clowns to reveal the truth.
Penguin (detail) (2018) by John BaldessariSculpture Milwaukee
This self-consciously surreal self-portrait reveals the absurdity of any artistic attempt to capture a human life. And if you can never fully represent a life in a sculpture, why not at least have fun trying to do so? He may be a penguin, but he's doing important work.
