"Valentine", 2015
Signed lower right, number 41/50, on lower left.
17 color Screenprint, 17 printings
Width: 42 in (106.68 cm)
Depth: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)
Sheet size 37 3/4 x 33 3/4".
Processing and Proofing Richard Kaz. Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA
 
Title: "Valentine" – Alludes to desire, love, and vulnerability, yet Baldessari turns this sentiment inside out with cool detachment and visual irony.
The Cupid-like arrow is not romantic — it’s clinical, almost anatomical, as it draws attention to how the female body is dissected visually in both fashion and media.
Baldessari plays with conceptual juxtapositions: high fashion vs. commentary, beauty vs. objectification, precision vs. absurdity.
The added graphics act as a disruptive narrative device, forcing the viewer to rethink what they’re looking at, and why.
 
A high-fashion runway model walks confidently in a sheer brown dress, her body sharply lit and centered.
Two bold arrows, one white and stylized (like Cupid’s arrow), point across her chest and shoulder in contrasting directions.
The V-neckline and the use of sheer fabric underscore themes of exposure, desire, and gaze.
The stark contrast between the formal, polished photo and the graphic intervention (the arrows) is classic Baldessari — inserting symbolic or absurdist elements to disrupt the image’s function or meaning.