Artist #9 - 3.1.10 - John Baldessari

One of the artists Paul told me to look at in our first meeting was John Baldessari. Some of his work I do not get at all, but some of it I think is awesome. The stuff' that first struck me was his text work like these:

John Baldessari (b. 1931)

Painting for Kubler
acrylic on canvas
67 7/8 x 56½ in. (172.4 x 143.5 cm.)
Painted in 1966-1968.

John Baldessari, Solving Each Problem as It Arises

John Baldessari
Everything is Purged...
1966-68
68 x 56 in.

What I like about this work is that it is talking about art, it is causing the artist to consider the paradigm that he exists in. My favorite one is Painting for Kubler because I see it as applying to aspects of society other than art. Things like our economic system, art, or even culture are entities on their own. We know nothing outside of them. I feel like they could all be compared to a strange, ancient flying machine that we pushed off a cliff, we only think we're flying because we haven't hit the ground yet. This piece suggests that there are other paths that art (or economics or culture) could have taken, but after it got going in this direction, that is all there could be. If it were all to crumble, what would the next attempt look like? Surely a totally different paradigm.
In "Solving Each Problem as It Arises" I thought it was interesting how he ends it. I think this points at an important flaw in art; how people who aren't artists view art. This piece might not even be about that, but it makes me think about how a normal person, who doesn't know much about art can interpret some of the stuff artists make. As artists are we making art for each other(other artists), or for everyone?

Some of his other work is inaccessible to me, pieces like this for example,

Yves Saint Laurent Shirt
John Baldessari

Is this of a religious nature? Is it about temptation? What is the significance of the painted-over faces with grayscale noses and ears? The title references the shirt, but it doesn't seem to be about the shirt at all, is it about consumerism? Is this supposed to be some kind of modern portrait of adam and eve? This stuff seems to be his most popular work, but it doesn't speak the same way other stuff of his does.