Although John Baldessari died in early 2020 at the age of 88, the conceptual artist’s seminal legacy lives on in his Los Angeles home, which he lived in for three decades, not to mention a fun and informative film about his life and work, the Tom is waiting, told by a silver-tongued musician. Significantly updated during Baldessari’s tenure – with more space, light, and “creatively exciting” living space – the Craftsman Bungalow is now on the market in Santa Monica’s Ocean Park neighborhood, priced at $ 3.9 million.
Baldessari is often referred to as the “Godfather of Conceptual Art” and was best known for using found photography and appropriated images in his works. And his art was never boring, whether he put colored dots over people’s faces in photos or cremated his paintings and kept the ashes in a bronze urn that mimicked the shape of a book. The California-born artist, who is internationally recognized, ran a Main Street Studio in Santa Monica with his creative colleagues Richard Diebenkorn and James Turrell and was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama in 2015 for his contribution as a visual artist.
Known as “John Baldessari House # 1” – because the artist also owned a vacation home in Venice designed by Frank Gehry – the Santa Monica property was originally built in 1903 and bought by Baldessari for only $ 660,000 in 1990, architects Ron Godfredsen and Danna Sigal to give the structure a contemporary makeover, in keeping with their Craftsman line, which included new white lap panels and olive green trim on the exterior of the residence, as well as a seamless rear annex influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s works. San Diego-based designer Roy McMakin has also been hired to create bespoke furniture, some of which may be available for purchase as per the listing.
The result of these efforts includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms spread over nearly 2,800 square feet of open living space, punctuated by wood-framed windows and doors and numerous windows and skylights. As for the addition, it houses an eat-in kitchen with elegant wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, an island with a butcher’s block and blue-tiled rear walls and countertops. There is also a wood-paneled library upstairs with built-in bookshelves and cambered windows with picturesque views of the treetops.
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Other highlights include a sun-drenched living room lit by a large wood-burning fireplace and doors that open to a terrace that borders a grassy lawn, plus a couple of bright bathrooms – one with aqua tile and the other in an orange hue and tile each equipped with unique steel fastenings. One master bedroom has window walls and a vaulted ceiling supported by steel cables; and outdoors, the terraced park-like grounds include a mulch-covered outdoor dining area shaded by olive trees.
Julia Hodges of Crosby Doe Associates holds the listing.
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