David Salle. Farbe and Feeling

Posted on by cmarthoughts
The image shows a heavily smiling man on the left and two female figures on the right side. The figures are divided by a blue tree trunk with red highlights in the center. On the bottom of the image, a fries-like bandeau with anatomical and geometric sketches and an oversized leaf are painted. It is a painting by the artist David Salle.
David Salle, Tree of Life False Smile, 2022. © David Salle / ARS NY 2023. Photos: John Berens, New York Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul.

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 image shows a withe cube with two large paintings hanging on the wall. It is an installation view of the exhibition "David Salle. This Time With Feeling", at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais, 2023.
David Salle. Tree of Life, This Time with Feeling, installation view, Thaddeus Ropac Paris Marais, 2023. © David Salle / ARS NY 2023. Photos: John Berens, New York Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul.

The exhibition is accompanied by a beautiful and content-loaded catalogue.

4 thoughts on “David Salle. Farbe and Feeling”

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