I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

John Baldessari and the Lithography Workshop

At NSCAD many students have seen the print I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art by John Baldessari or have heard the phrase used. The 1971 black and white lithograph with the repeated sentence used to hang at the main entrance to the Granville campus.
In the 70s as part of the Lithography Workshop, Baldessari was commissioned to create an original work at the school. The Workshop’s mission was to bring in established artists to visit NSCAD to collaborate with the master printer and students to make limited edition prints. At the time John Baldessari was a prolific artist teaching at the California Institute of the Art; he has has since been termed one of the most influential conceptual artist since the sixties.

Baldessari was not able to make it to NSCAD but he proposed that students write the phrase, “ I will not make any more boring art,” on the Mezzanine Gallery walls as if in collective punishment. This was, in part, his ironic comment on minimalist art of the time. Inspired by the student execution of his suggestion at NSCAD, Baldessari then created a video piece in which he performed the same task, handwriting the phrase "I will not make any more boring art" over and over on a piece of paper. This page was then sent to NSCAD and reproduced in the form of a lithograph. Like the video I Am Making Art attached here, much of Baldessari's output explores art and the creative process in an ironic way or with the use of humour.

In the 1970’s, NSCAD was very innovative in the art world due to its highly experimental conceptual art program and the Lithography Workshop. During this time, works and prints by other artists such as Vito Acconci, Dan Graham, Sol LeWitt, and Michael Snow were created at the school.

The John Baldessari art project has been influential in the school's evolution and has, humorously, shaped its mission. The phrase is now seen as NSCAD’s unofficial motto alongside the formal motto: “Head, Heart, and Hand.” The official alumni ring, designed by Karen Konzuk, incorporates the school colours and is also engraved with the Latin words, “nolo facere insipada,” or, “no boring art.”

Valentyna Onisko





Dykhuis, Peter, Jessica Kerrin, and Dennis Young. Conceptual Art : The NSCAD Connection 1967-1973.

Heiser, Jorg. "John Baldessari." John Baldessari. Sept. 2005.Freize Magazine.26 Sept. 2008 http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/john_baldessari1

I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. Dir. John Baldessari. Perf. John Baldessari. 1971

I Am Making Art. Dir. John Baldessari. Perf. John Baldessari. 1971

Irwin, Sherri. "Garry Neill Kennedy: No More Boring Art." Garry Neill Kennedy: No More Boring Art. 30 July 2002.Canadian Art.26 Sept. 2008
http://www.canadianart.ca/art/features/2002/07/30/53/

Printed Matter Inc. "I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art ; Lithographs, Publications and Ephemera." Press release. June-July 2006. Printed Matter Inc. 26 Sept. 2008
http://printedmatter.org/news/news.cfm?article_id=227

Western Front Society. Exhibitions. "Between Your Head and My Hand." Press release. 2 Dec. 2007. Western Front. 26 Sept. 2008 http://front.bc.ca/exhibitions/events/3129