Arts Matter announces launch of John Baldessari’s Learn To Dream, Aprende A Soñar
www.foryourart.com
www.lafund.org/#arts-matter
Produced by ForYourArt, the public art component of Arts Matter, kicked off by Barbara Kruger in October, continues with the work of artist John Baldessari. His project titled Learn To Dream, Aprende A Soñar launches today, and now appears on twelve buses, along with 48 other media assets including billboards, bus shelters, and other types of outdoor media throughout Los Angeles for the next four weeks.
Learn To Dream, Aprende A Soñar is the second flight of original works of art by world-renowned artists produced by ForYourArt for Arts Matter, a first of its kind, citywide public art exhibition and fundraising campaign to support arts and creativity in the nation’s second largest public school system.
Presented by the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (LA Fund) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Arts Matter addresses the importance of arts education in Los Angeles public schools, the “creative capital of the world.”
Baldessari’s bus artwork, with its yellow and black design, turns Los Angeles Metro buses into “school buses.” Baldessari’s work provokes contemplation about what is and is not working in education today and challenges us to plan for a better future. His bilingual text, rendered in the artist’s hand, inspires thinking and dialogue among and about Los Angeles’s diverse audiences.
“Here in the world’s creative capital we need to ensure all of our students receive a comprehensive, integrated arts education,” stated Megan Chernin, founding Chair and CEO of the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education. “Los Angeles cannot take the creative economy for granted. Major LA employers like Mattel, a worldwide leader in hiring creative people, are joining this campaign because they understand the direct connection between arts integration in the classroom and a thriving creative workforce.”
“John Baldessari’s project brings art to the public with multiple access points for diverse audiences. As the buses move throughout Los Angeles, we are reminded that society’s values are communicated and learned via public space and shared movement,” said ForYourArt founder Bettina Korek.
About John Baldessari
For more than five decades, Baldessari has created thousands of works that demonstrate—and, in many cases, combine—the narrative potential of images and the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art.
Baldessari has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, those organized by the New Museum, New York, in 1981; the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain, in 1989; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 1990; Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK, in 1995; the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, and Kunsthaus Graz, in 2005; and Tate Modern, London, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 2009.
About Arts Matter
Arts Matter is an unprecedented campaign to revitalize arts education in the nation’s second largest school district. The campaign brings together the world’s leading artists and thought leaders to drive public awareness for the critical role of arts education in public schools. Please visit www.lafund.org/#arts-matter for more information.
About the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education
The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (LA Fund) is a philanthropic organization dedicated to driving positive change in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). It invests in innovative, results-oriented programs designed to ensure every student in the nation’s second largest school system has a chance to succeed. For more information, please visit www.lafund.org.
About ForYourArt
By engaging artists and different facets of the art world in innovative arts collaborations and public art initiatives, ForYourArt works to realize the potential of the imagination to shape our future. For more information, please visit www.foryourart.com.
Press Contact
Justin Conner, FITZ & CO: 212-627-1455 x233 / justin [at] fitzandco.com
