John Baldessari was a key figure in the Conceptual art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, emphasizing ideas, language, and performative actions over the formal preoccupations of painting.

. In his black and white video, I am Making Art, made in 1971, Baldessari takes a humorous and ironic look at the extremes of such a position. This work is an example of post-modernism art, this movement was coined in the mid to late 1900’s, it is a reaction against modernism; a movement that was based on idealism and achieving a Utopian vision, modernist artists wanted to reflect the real world through what they create. Post-modernism denied the idea that there is any single way or definition of what art should be, viewers have their own interpretation of the art due to their own unique experiences. Another aspect of post-modernism is that it takes pieces of different past styles. I am Making Art is post-modern in the way that Baldesarri has created something that everyone interprets differently and especially in the way that he is aware of this

In 1970, Baldessari and some friends burnt all of the paintings he had created between 1953 and 1966 as part of a new piece, titled The Cremation Project. The ashes from these paintings were baked into cookies resulting in an art installation consisting of a bronze plaque with the destroyed paintings’ birth and death dates, as well as the recipe for making the cookies. Through this project, Baldessari draws a connection between artistic practice and the human life cycle. For me this project brings to life his quote of ‘no more bboring art’, as the idea does sound very boring at first as it it an active that you seen being done every way, but I do think that the images are actually very interesting to look at.