Belch by John Baldessari is a limited edition print from 2015, part of the Engraving with Sounds series, in which the artist reworked historical engravings to explore the relationship between image, language, and perception. Drawing from 18th- and 19th-century source imagery, Baldessari digitally intervenes in antiquarian scenes, introducing flat color fields and single-word sound effects that disrupt their original narrative authority.

In Belch, a finely rendered engraving of a beached whale is punctuated by the blunt, onomatopoeic title beneath the image. Bright, graphic color and the absurdity of the sound-word transform the solemn illustration into a humorous yet conceptually sharp meditation on communication and meaning. As with much of Baldessari’s work, the print invites viewers to reconsider how images are read and how language alters interpretation.

The Engraving with Sounds series exemplifies John Baldessari’s interest in stripping images of assumed seriousness and reactivating them through minimal intervention. By pairing a single word with a borrowed image, he creates a visual non sequitur that oscillates between comedy and critique, underscoring the arbitrary nature of representation.

Produced as a signed and numbered edition of 25, Belch is an archival pigment print on paper (36.8 x 30.5 cm), monogrammed on a label on the reverse, and a refined example of Baldessari’s late printmaking practice, combining art-historical appropriation with his unmistakable conceptual wit.