Artist and CalArts alum David Salle (Art BFA 73 / MFA 75) is having an LA moment. Again.
My Frankenstein, his first solo show in Los Angeles in nearly 30 years, recently opened at Sprüth Magers on Museum Row (on view through April 18). The sprawling gallery is filled with new paintings by the postmodern artist who, over the course of a 50-year career, has developed a distinct oeuvre—one noted for bringing together contrasting elements in often jarring and playful ways.
From Sprüth Magers:
Since the 1980s, Salle has plucked compelling imagery from art history, print advertising and, most extensively, his own photographs. He uses this source material to create novel and provocative mis-en-scènes that he revitalizes in paint. Salle’s creative method is to react to certain “givens”; to enter into a visual call-and-response with them. This aspect of his work is akin to the way certain painters at mid-century, notably Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, incorporated found objects into their paintings; the American flag or bits of urban detritus were the “givens” to which Rauschenberg and Johns responded.
Often associated with the Pictures Generation, an unofficial group of artists who emerged in the 1970s and 1980s working in various media, Salle was the youngest artist—at 34—to be honored with a mid-career survey exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1987. In addition to his show at Sprüth Magers, Salle’s recent solo exhibitions have been presented by Times Square Arts, New York, NY (2024); Edward Hopper House Museum, Nyack, NY (2024); Lehmann Maupin, Seoul, Korea (2023); Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2022); and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France (2020). Select group exhibitions include Before/On/After: William Wegman and California Conceptualism, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2018); Fast Forward: Paintings from the 1980s, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2017); Unfinished Business: Paintings from the 1970s and 1980s by Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, and David Salle, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY (2016); and The Pictures Generation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2009).
In recent years, Salle has added another tool to his palette: AI. He’s been working with an engineer on machine learning, developing a proprietary model trained on specific aspects of Salle’s own works. The system generates new image configurations and reimaginings of his earlier pieces. The AI parts of the paintings are enlarged and printed on the canvas, visible pixels and all. Salle then paints over these machine-produced layers, creating works that are distinctly his own.
CHANEL Connects Live
The esteemed artist was a natural choice, then, to appear on a special CHANEL Connects Live at LACMA on Feb. 24, where he was interviewed by Yana Peel, President of Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL. The brand’s flagship arts and culture podcast brings together artists and innovators “shaping the now and defining the next.”
During the conversation, Salle and Peel discussed Salle’s artistic journey—from the inaugural class at CalArts to sending his AI to art school.
The CHANEL Connects episode is now available for listening on all podcast platforms.
