
Review
David Salle. Tree of Life, This Time With Feeling
21 January – 4 March 2023
Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais
So fun! Matisse and comic. Thin application of colour, the drawing shines through. Pop and anatomy (love the male torsos). The paintings are strangely calm, halted, and exciting. Newspaper as caricature, black and white. Some Jungwirth, Matisse, Picasso on the bottom side fries. Is this an exercise on 20th century masters?
I can’t get to the tree trunks. Bright and tongue-in-cheek they rank into the image. Alien, yet essential, alive even. Luxe, calme et volupté X Alice in Wonderland.
Re Tree of Life, Convo Circle (2022): I want to eat this color explosion. Candy on canvas, but more substantial.
For the German audience: Loriot is greeting from above (Tree of Life, Heavenly, 2022. Mind the angels). Matisse on frottee, AKA: 21st century.
Flatness. There is nothing heavy about these paintings. But something eery, tense. Both in the expressive colours and gestures on the bottom parts, and the scenes on the upper part of the paintings.
Fragmented limbs and hysterical women. Popey will come and rescue them. Or David Salle conceiving perfect paintings.

The exhibition is accompanied by a beautiful and content-loaded catalogue.
[…] upper floor goes three-dimensional: Anastasia Finders’ installation is an exuberant event for the eyes and senses. The colourful fabric panels, glass and metal goblets, flowers and fruits form a real-life version […]
[…] The third room introduces colour play. The tie-died patterns resemble remnants of a Holi festival. Self-confident and stately, sleek yet tongue-in-cheek. […]
[…] is taking over. Remnants, beautifully wrapped, a DIY playground. But who will be playing? The photographs of flowers allude to nature and culture alike and form an astonishingly beautiful […]