requisite mental adjustments, i.e., to disregard the quotidian facticity of the filmed objects, these too might become sublime. That’s exactly the problem the camera always poses: making the requisite mental adjustment. In this sense, Pollock was not simply exploited by the camera; he exploited it, too. Life Magazine and Vogue (including a fashion feature shot by Cecil Beaton) ran big spreads of his work. These, together with his good looks and personal charisma, helped catapult him into national celebrity. As early as 1946, Mark Rothko remarked, «Pollock is a self contained and sustained advertising concern.« [5] In fact, none of that is true, even at the level of polemic. He was not self contained, but promoted by a media system. His role was more that of product than promoter. By putting himself behind the camera, however, Baldessari turns the tables. Only as a joke could he ever exclaim, «I am Nature!» Nor would Ed Harris ever film his life story. When Saturday Night Live featured a regular skit called «Bad Conceptual Art» in the late 1970s, perhaps Baldessari’s work might have made it on. Yet, if praise is damning, parody might be the sincerest form of flattery. Otherwise, boredom

keeps the producers at bay. Baldessari, for his part, promises to entertain next time, then fails to make good on the promise.