Choosing: Green Beans
John Baldessari
1972
Choosing: Green Beans
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In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:   ...
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Choosing: Green Beans
John Baldessari
1972
Milan: Edizioni Toselli
Unpaginated [28 pages]
29.7 × 21 cm
Edition of 1,500

In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:


 


“This work is part of a series of works about choosing. In this version a group of green beans was available from which to choose. A participant was asked to choose any three beans from the group for whatever reasons he/she might have at that moment. A photograph was taken of the selection process. The chosen bean was carried over; the other two beans not chosen were discarded; two new beans were added. The next choice was made, and so on. Each of the participants develops strategies unknown to the other player as the selection process continues until all the beans are used.”


 


The series was extended, with slight variations in form and concept, to other vegetables and objects, including carrots, asparagus, turnips, and rhubarb. At its core, the project continues to illustrate with serious wit Baldessari’s critique of Clement Greenberg’s formalist conception of aesthetic judgment, specifically the opening paragraph of his “Complaints of an Art Critic,” published in Artforum in October 1967:


 


“AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS ARE GIVEN AND CONTAINED IN THE IMMEDIATE EXPERIENCE OF ART. THEY COINCIDE WITH IT; THEY ARE NOT ARRIVED AT AFTERWARDS THROUGH REFLECTION OR THOUGHT; ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE ALSO INVOLUNTARY; YOU CAN NO MORE CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT TO LIKE A WORK OF ART THAN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO HAVE SUGAR TASTE SWEET OR LEMONS SOUR. (WHETHER OR NOT ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE HONESTLY REPORTED IS ANOTHER MATTER).”


 


From his 1968 canvas, which transcribed this passage mot à mot and transformed its written proposition into a work of art, to his later exercises in “choosing” beans, Baldessari repeatedly exposes the arbitrariness of aesthetic rules. By turning aesthetic choice itself into a game governed by arbitrary procedures, he reverses Greenberg’s assertion that aesthetic judgment is involuntary. What Greenberg presents as an instinctive response becomes, for Baldessari, a conscious act of selection, subject to rules, strategies and reflection. The humble green bean thus becomes an unlikely but precise instrument for questioning the authority and inevitability of aesthetic judgment.

Milan: Edizioni Toselli
Unpaginated [28 pages]
29.7 × 21 cm
Edition of 1,500

In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:

 

“This work is part of a series of works about choosing. In this version a group of green beans was available from which to choose. A participant was asked to choose any three beans from the group for whatever reasons he/she might have at that moment. A photograph was taken of the selection process. The chosen bean was carried over; the other two beans not chosen were discarded; two new beans were added. The next choice was made, and so on. Each of the participants develops strategies unknown to the other player as the selection process continues until all the beans are used.”

 

The series was extended, with slight variations in form and concept, to other vegetables and objects, including carrots, asparagus, turnips, and rhubarb. At its core, the project continues to illustrate with serious wit Baldessari’s critique of Clement Greenberg’s formalist conception of aesthetic judgment, specifically the opening paragraph of his “Complaints of an Art Critic,” published in Artforum in October 1967:

 

“AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS ARE GIVEN AND CONTAINED IN THE IMMEDIATE EXPERIENCE OF ART. THEY COINCIDE WITH IT; THEY ARE NOT ARRIVED AT AFTERWARDS THROUGH REFLECTION OR THOUGHT; ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE ALSO INVOLUNTARY; YOU CAN NO MORE CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT TO LIKE A WORK OF ART THAN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO HAVE SUGAR TASTE SWEET OR LEMONS SOUR. (WHETHER OR NOT ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE HONESTLY REPORTED IS ANOTHER MATTER).”

 

From his 1968 canvas, which transcribed this passage mot à mot and transformed its written proposition into a work of art, to his later exercises in “choosing” beans, Baldessari repeatedly exposes the arbitrariness of aesthetic rules. By turning aesthetic choice itself into a game governed by arbitrary procedures, he reverses Greenberg’s assertion that aesthetic judgment is involuntary. What Greenberg presents as an instinctive response becomes, for Baldessari, a conscious act of selection, subject to rules, strategies and reflection. The humble green bean thus becomes an unlikely but precise instrument for questioning the authority and inevitability of aesthetic judgment.

DESCRIPTION

In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:

 

“This work is part of a series of works about choosing. In this version a group of green beans was available from which to choose. A participant was asked to choose any three beans from the group for whatever reasons he/she might have at that moment. A photograph was taken of the selection process. The chosen bean was carried over; the other two beans not chosen were discarded; two new beans were added. The next choice was made, and so on. Each of the participants develops strategies unknown to the other player as the selection process continues until all the beans are used.”

 

The series was extended, with slight variations in form and concept, to other vegetables and objects, including carrots, asparagus, turnips, and rhubarb. At its core, the project continues to illustrate with serious wit Baldessari’s critique of Clement Greenberg’s formalist conception of aesthetic judgment, specifically the opening paragraph of his “Complaints of an Art Critic,” published in Artforum in October 1967:

 

“AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS ARE GIVEN AND CONTAINED IN THE IMMEDIATE EXPERIENCE OF ART. THEY COINCIDE WITH IT; THEY ARE NOT ARRIVED AT AFTERWARDS THROUGH REFLECTION OR THOUGHT; ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE ALSO INVOLUNTARY; YOU CAN NO MORE CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT TO LIKE A WORK OF ART THAN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO HAVE SUGAR TASTE SWEET OR LEMONS SOUR. (WHETHER OR NOT ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE HONESTLY REPORTED IS ANOTHER MATTER).”

 

From his 1968 canvas, which transcribed this passage mot à mot and transformed its written proposition into a work of art, to his later exercises in “choosing” beans, Baldessari repeatedly exposes the arbitrariness of aesthetic rules. By turning aesthetic choice itself into a game governed by arbitrary procedures, he reverses Greenberg’s assertion that aesthetic judgment is involuntary. What Greenberg presents as an instinctive response becomes, for Baldessari, a conscious act of selection, subject to rules, strategies and reflection. The humble green bean thus becomes an unlikely but precise instrument for questioning the authority and inevitability of aesthetic judgment.

Milan: Edizioni Toselli
Unpaginated [28 pages]
29.7 × 21 cm
Edition of 1,500

In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:

 

“This work is part of a series of works about choosing. In this version a group of green beans was available from which to choose. A participant was asked to choose any three beans from the group for whatever reasons he/she might have at that moment. A photograph was taken of the selection process. The chosen bean was carried over; the other two beans not chosen were discarded; two new beans were added. The next choice was made, and so on. Each of the participants develops strategies unknown to the other player as the selection process continues until all the beans are used.”

 

The series was extended, with slight variations in form and concept, to other vegetables and objects, including carrots, asparagus, turnips, and rhubarb. At its core, the project continues to illustrate with serious wit Baldessari’s critique of Clement Greenberg’s formalist conception of aesthetic judgment, specifically the opening paragraph of his “Complaints of an Art Critic,” published in Artforum in October 1967:

 

“AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS ARE GIVEN AND CONTAINED IN THE IMMEDIATE EXPERIENCE OF ART. THEY COINCIDE WITH IT; THEY ARE NOT ARRIVED AT AFTERWARDS THROUGH REFLECTION OR THOUGHT; ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE ALSO INVOLUNTARY; YOU CAN NO MORE CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT TO LIKE A WORK OF ART THAN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO HAVE SUGAR TASTE SWEET OR LEMONS SOUR. (WHETHER OR NOT ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE HONESTLY REPORTED IS ANOTHER MATTER).”

 

From his 1968 canvas, which transcribed this passage mot à mot and transformed its written proposition into a work of art, to his later exercises in “choosing” beans, Baldessari repeatedly exposes the arbitrariness of aesthetic rules. By turning aesthetic choice itself into a game governed by arbitrary procedures, he reverses Greenberg’s assertion that aesthetic judgment is involuntary. What Greenberg presents as an instinctive response becomes, for Baldessari, a conscious act of selection, subject to rules, strategies and reflection. The humble green bean thus becomes an unlikely but precise instrument for questioning the authority and inevitability of aesthetic judgment.

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In this playful book, Baldessari aligns his creative exercise with the Duchampian conception of art as a conceptual game. The rules are explained simply and clearly in both Italian and English, at the beginning:

 

“This work is part of a series of works about choosing. In this version a group of green beans was available from which to choose. A participant was asked to choose any three beans from the group for whatever reasons he/she might have at that moment. A photograph was taken of the selection process. The chosen bean was carried over; the other two beans not chosen were discarded; two new beans were added. The next choice was made, and so on. Each of the participants develops strategies unknown to the other player as the selection process continues until all the beans are used.”

 

The series was extended, with slight variations in form and concept, to other vegetables and objects, including carrots, asparagus, turnips, and rhubarb. At its core, the project continues to illustrate with serious wit Baldessari’s critique of Clement Greenberg’s formalist conception of aesthetic judgment, specifically the opening paragraph of his “Complaints of an Art Critic,” published in Artforum in October 1967:

 

“AESTHETIC JUDGMENTS ARE GIVEN AND CONTAINED IN THE IMMEDIATE EXPERIENCE OF ART. THEY COINCIDE WITH IT; THEY ARE NOT ARRIVED AT AFTERWARDS THROUGH REFLECTION OR THOUGHT; ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE ALSO INVOLUNTARY; YOU CAN NO MORE CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT TO LIKE A WORK OF ART THAN YOU CAN CHOOSE TO HAVE SUGAR TASTE SWEET OR LEMONS SOUR. (WHETHER OR NOT ESTHETIC JUDGEMENTS ARE HONESTLY REPORTED IS ANOTHER MATTER).”

 

From his 1968 canvas, which transcribed this passage mot à mot and transformed its written proposition into a work of art, to his later exercises in “choosing” beans, Baldessari repeatedly exposes the arbitrariness of aesthetic rules. By turning aesthetic choice itself into a game governed by arbitrary procedures, he reverses Greenberg’s assertion that aesthetic judgment is involuntary. What Greenberg presents as an instinctive response becomes, for Baldessari, a conscious act of selection, subject to rules, strategies and reflection. The humble green bean thus becomes an unlikely but precise instrument for questioning the authority and inevitability of aesthetic judgment.

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