In this highly compelling show, David Salle creates some of the boldest paintings of his 40-year career by mixing diverse elements from popular culture with his own images of models taken in his studio. The result contrasts collaged paintings with photographically derived canvases depicting a single theatrical subject.
The former series, titled “Late Product Paintings,” not only combines disparate parts but also a variety of mediums and techniques. Odes and Aires, for example, juxtaposes realistically rendered musical notes and ad imagery in acrylic and crayon, while abstract passages are squeegeed in oil. The enigmatic composition is further layered with a black-and-white photo of a female torso (with one hand replaced by a roughly drawn claw), and a small abstract canvas physically attached to the surface.
The other group, “Silver Paintings,” utilizes photographs of a draped figure that Salle shot in front of his “Early Product Paintings,” originally exhibited at Gagosian Gallery in 1994. Employing an analog pigment-transfer process, the artist constructs haunting portraits of a ghostlike performer who also makes unexpected appearances in “Late Product Paintings,” too.
Taking to heart Jasper Johns’s famous maxim, “Take something, do something to it, do something else to it,” Salle breathes new life into both his own paintings and postmodern art.—Paul Laster