John Baldessari’s Big Catch distills his enduring obsessions with chance, narrative, and the slippery nature of images. Using appropriated photographic imagery and his characteristically restrained interventions, Baldessari stages a moment of pursuit and capture that feels both literal and metaphorical: the “catch” might be a fish, a person, a joke, or an idea.

As in much of his work, he withholds key information—cropping figures, redirecting our gaze, and leaving gaps the viewer has to fill. The result is a scene that hovers between humor and unease, entertainment and critique. Big Catch is less about what we see than about how quickly we rush to make sense of it, a smart, playful reminder that every picture is also a trap for the imagination.