Baldessari, John. Throwing a Ball Once to Get Three Melodies and Fifteen Chords by John Baldessari.

University of California, 1973. 28 pages, 15 illustrations. Artist's book, staple bound; one of 2,500 copies printed; comprised of black-and-white photographs by Dan Graham of John Baldessari in full body profile throwing a ball in flip-book style. The wind-up and pitch are set off by color horizontal lines marking the movement, like sheet music. The images were used in an exhibit in conjunction with the publication of the book. Like new. Summary:

Published in 1975 by the University of California, Irvine, Throwing a Ball Once to Get Three Melodies and Fifteen Chords is a seminal artist's book by the American conceptualist John Baldessari. It stands as a prime example of his career-long fascination with using arbitrary rules and "game-play" to generate art.

The Premise and Process

The book documents a specific conceptual performance. Baldessari took a series of photographs while attempting to throw a ball into the air so that it would align with a specific spot in the frame.

• Arbitrary Logic: The title refers to a self-imposed mathematical structure. While the act of throwing the ball is visual, Baldessari assigns musical values (melodies and chords) to the results, creating a cross-disciplinary, albeit absurd, internal logic.

• The Grid: The book is structured around a sequence of images. In each, a ball is suspended in mid-air against a clear blue sky, often centered or positioned according to a pre-determined grid.

Key Themes

• Defiance of Authorship: By using a "toss" to determine the composition, Baldessari removes traditional artistic intuition and "talent" from the process, favoring chance and execution of a predetermined plan.

• Serialized Imagery: The work reflects the 1970s obsession with typology and sequences. The repetitive nature of the photos highlights the slight variations in the ball's position, turning a mundane action into a rigorous study of time and space.

• Humor and Absurdity: Typical of Baldessari’s wit, the book pokes fun at the seriousness of High Modernism and Minimalist art by applying a complex, academic-sounding title to a very simple, almost childlike physical action.

Significance

This publication is a cornerstone of Conceptual Photography. It shifted the focus away from the "decisive moment" of street photography (like that of Cartier-Bresson) toward a "calculated moment." It remains a major reference point for how photography can be used as a tool to document an idea or a system rather than just a visual subject.