John Baldessari's Hot & Cold (2018) series, presented at the Marian Goodman Gallery, marks a significant departure from his usual art historical references, diving into a new subject matter centered around the physical world. The series explores natural phenomena through a combination of photography, painting, and text, creating a unique dialogue between the images and the viewer. This body of work utilizes icons and events from nature, such as icebergs and volcanoes, to probe into the relationship between painting and photography, image and language, as well as the sublime and the cataclysmic. The presentation of these works as diptychs allows for a juxtaposition of contrasting themes—surface and depth, chaos and containment—highlighting the dialectics of figure and ground, and positive and negative space​ (Marian Goodman)​.

Baldessari's work has always played with the concept of marrying images to words in unconventional ways, prompting the viewer to question their perceptions and interpretations of art. This is evident in Hot & Cold, where the series of photographic pairs each feature a "cold" image of an iceberg next to a "hot" image, typically of an erupting volcano. The photographs are enhanced with a layer of paint—white for icebergs, mimicking the appearance of fresh lava for volcanoes. Each image pair is attached to captions, with the volcanoes featuring stock phrases and the icebergs carrying text from the script of "Sunset Boulevard." This creates an intriguing contrast between the raw emotions of the script and the indifferent natural phenomena, hinting at the deeper layers of meaning beneath the surface​ (Musée Magazine)​.

The series not only serves as a commentary on the artist's perception of natural forms but also reflects on the current environmental crisis, particularly the alarming rate at which our natural world is disappearing. By overlaying the photographs of icebergs with white paint, Baldessari creates a ghostly absence, symbolizing the gradual loss of these natural wonders. The juxtaposition of material possessions with the melting ice in some of the works further highlights the emptiness of consumerism in the face of environmental degradation. Through this series, Baldessari invites viewers to contemplate the relationship between the real and the represented, the tangible and the conceptual, suggesting that our own idealized images of nature may soon be all that's left​ (Musée Magazine)​.

Hot & Cold stands as a poignant exploration of the intersections between nature, art, and human perception, continuing Baldessari's legacy of challenging viewers to see and think differently about the world around them.