David Salle
David Salle was born in 1952 in Norman (Oklahoma); he lives and works in New York City and Sagaponack (Long Island). Like many artists of his generation, David Salle largely drew inspiration for his rich visual vocabulary from existing pictures. Based on models from art history, advertisements, design, and everyday culture, Salle creates an assemblage with manifold cultural references. Since the mid-80s, his paintings have included allusions to the works of the Baroque painters Velázquez and Bernini, to the Post-Impressionist Cézanne, to Giacometti and Magritte, and to American post-war art. In 2004, the Vortex element was added to Salle’s artistic syntax. It became the dominating element in his paintings. In most cases, Salle places these maelstroms that call to mind the anamorphotic experiments of the Surrealists in the centre of the canvas: they seem to draw the depicted fresco-like nudes, tapestry-design shells, female portraits, Manga figures, and African sculptures into oblivion. The extraordinary precision of Salle’s paintings is breathtaking. The distortion of the motifs is a testimony to his excellent command of modern graphics software. The synthesis of two-dimensional Pop art, Surrealism, contemporary computer aesthetics, and old-masterly perfection gives his work a unique character.
Awards
2016
American Academy of Arts and Letters
2015
National Academy of Art
1986
Guggenheim Fellowship for Theater Design
Solo exhibitions
2018
David Salle: Paintings 1985 -1995, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2017
David Salle, New Paintigs, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2016
David Salle, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Hong Kong
Inspired by True-Life Events, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (CAC Málaga), Málaga, Spain
Cindy Sherman and David Salle: History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings, Skarstedt Gallery, London, UK
2015
Debris, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, USA
New Paintings, Skarstedt Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
2014
Maureen Paley, London, UK
Collage, Mendes Wood D, São Paulo, Brasil
2013
David Salle / Francis Picabia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Ghost Paintings, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle: Ghost Paintings, The Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois, USA
David Salle, Leeahn Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
David Salle, Leeahn Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Tapestries/ Battles/ Allegories, Lever House Art Collection, New York, NY, USA
2012
Ariel and Other Spirits, The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery MET, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, Germany
2011
David Salle Recent Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Maureen Paley, London, UK
2010
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2009
Héritage du Pop Art, Kestnergessellschaft, Hannover, Germany
2008
David Salle, Paintings and Drawings, Studio d'Arte Raffaelli - Palazzo Wolkenstein, Trento, Italy
David Salle, Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen, Denmark
2007
David Salle, Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
David Salle : 1,2,3,4, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
Bearding The Lion In His Den, Deitch Projects, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, New Works, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2005
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2004
Paris Opera Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
David Salle: Split Worlds. The Montage Principle, Stella Art Gallery, Moscow, Russia
David Salle, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
2003
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Waddington Galleries, London, UK
David Salle, Emilio Mazzoli Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
2002
David Salle, Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
David Salle, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY, USA
2001
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2000
David Salle, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
1999
Retrospective, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Traveled to Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria; Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
David Salle, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1998
David Salle, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
David Salle, Itochu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA
David Salle, Claudia Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
1996
David Salle, Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
David Salle, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
1995
David Salle, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1994
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1993
David Salle, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California, USA
1992
David Salle, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
David Salle, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
1991
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Photographs, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1990
David Salle, Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
David Salle, Fred Hoffman Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA
David Salle, Castelli Graphics, New York, NY, USA
1989
David Salle, Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen München, Munich, West Germany
David Salle, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
David Salle, Waddington Gallery, London, UK
David Salle, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, West Germany
1988
David Salle, Mary Boone/Michael Werner Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
David Salle, Fundacion Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Spain
David Salle, Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA (with Jasper Johns and Bruce Naumann)
1987
David Salle, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
David Salle, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
David Salle, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Spiral Garden, Wacoal Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
David Salle, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1986
David Salle, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, USA
David Salle, Castelli Graphics, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, West Germany. Traveled to: Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
David Salle, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Traveled to: the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, USA; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1985
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
David Salle, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
David Salle, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
David Salle, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA
David Salle, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, West Germany
1984
David Salle, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Mario Diacono Gallery, Rome, Italy
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1983
David Salle, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
David Salle with Francis Picabia, Galerie Schellmann & Kluser, Munich, West Germany
David Salle, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
1982
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
David Salle, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
1981
David Salle, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
David Salle, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
David Salle, Lucio Amelio Gallery, Naples, Italy
1980
David Salle, Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1979
David Salle, Gagosian/Nosei Webber, New York, NY, USA
Group exhibitions
2018
Running Wild, Eric Fischl, David Salle, The Arts Club, London, UK
America! America! How Real Is Real?, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
A New Spirit Then, A New Spirit Now, 1981 - 2018, Almine Rech Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2017
Hope and Hazard: A Comedy of Eros, cur. Eric Fishl, Hall Art
Foundation, Vermont, USA
American Cool, Mirat and Co., Madrid, Spain
Zeitgeist, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland
Creatures Great and Small, Tobias Mueller Modern Art, Zürich, Switzerland
Third Space/Shifting Conversations About Contemporary Art, The Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, USA
Fast Forward: Painting from the 1980s, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Fischl, Holzer, Prince, Salle, Sherman, Skarstedt Gallery, New York,
USA
2016
Portraits, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Painters’ Painters, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Unfinished Business: Paintings from the 1970s and 1980s by Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, and David Salle, Parrish Art Museum, New York, NY, USA
Cindy Sherman and David Salle: History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings, Skarstedt Gallery, London, UK
Water Bodies, New York Academy of Art, Southhamton Arts Center, New York, NY, USA
La Mia Ceramica, Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris, France
Condo, Kippenberger, Oehlen, Salle, Skarstedt Gallery, London, UK
Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Member and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, USA
Condo, de Kooning, Kippenberger, Muñoz, Salle, Warhol, Skarstedt Gallery, London, UK
Body Superficial, Sgorbati Projects, New York, NY, USA
Nice Weather, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Condo, Gonzalez-Torres, Kelley, Prince, Salle, Sherman, Trockel, Wool, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2015
Winter Group Show, Skarstedt Gallery, London, UK
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Matters of Pattern, Skarstedt Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
Future Seasons Past, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY, USA
GHP Amer, Baga, Cameron, Greenbaum, Lins, Mackler, Salle, Jane Harstook Gallery at Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY, USA
Making Art Dance: Backdrops and Costumes from the Armitage Foundation, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Summer Exhibition, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2014
Urban Theater: New York Art in the 1980’s, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Feats of Clay, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
Absent Friends, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Disturbing Innocence, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Everyday Epiphanies: Photography and Daily Life Since 1969, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Inaugural Exhibition, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Rauschenberg: Collecting and Connecting, Nasher Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Beg, Borrow, Steal, Medical Facilities of America Gallery/Temporary Exhibitions Gallery and The Media Lab, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Modernism from the National Gallery of Art: The Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Collection, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California, USA
Summer Exhibition, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
George Condo, Albert Oehlen, David Salle, Thomas Schütte and Cindy Sherman, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Variations in Abstraction, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
To Have and to Hold, The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida, USA
2013
Girls can tell, GAK, Bremen, Germany
Meshes of the Afternoon, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY, USA
DSM-V, The Future Moynihan Station, New York, USA
2012
Spring Fever, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY, USA
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Traveled to: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
The Brucennial 2012, Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Daum 10! The First Decade, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri, USA
Contemporary Painting, 1960 to the Present: Selections from the SFMOMA Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA
2011
Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
Pop Art 1960’s-2000’s from Misumi Collection, Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamansashi Prefecture, Japan
Distant Star, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
Distant Star/Estrella Distante, Kurimanzutto, Mexico City, Mexico
Les Fleurs du Mal, Munich Modern, Munich, Germany
America: Now and Here, cross-country traveling exhibition
2010
Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection, San Francisco Museum Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA
Brucennial 2010: Miseducation, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Your History is Not Our History, Haunch of Venison, New York, NY, USA
Pastiche, The Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Re-Dressing, Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Songs for Sale: Robert Rauschenberg/David Salle/Michael Bevilacqua, Faurschou Beijing, Beijing, China
2009
The Pictures Generation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
2008
Passioniert Provokativ : Die Sammlung Stoffel, Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles County, California, USA; Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
2007
Not for Sale, P.S. 1 MoMA Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA
2006
Damien Hirst, David Salle, Jenny Saville The Bilotti Chapel, The Bilotti Chapel, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome, Italy
2005
Contemporary Voices: Works from the UBS Art Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
2002
Something We Talked About (John Baldessari, Rita McBride, Lawrence Weiner, David Salle), Brooke Alexander Gallery and Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2001
Mythic Proportions:Painting in the 1980's, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida, USA
Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: Four Decades of Art from the Broad Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
2000
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties, PS1, New York, NY, USA
1999
The American Century: Art & Culture, 1900-2000 Part 2, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
The First View, Sammlung Essl, Vienna, Austria
1998
Contemporary Art: The Janet Wolfson de Botton Gift, Tate Gallery, London, UK
Young Americans 2, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
1996
The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
1995
American Photography 1890-1965, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1993
Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
The Portrait Now, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
1992
Allegories of Modernism, Contemporary Drawing, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
1991
1991 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
1990
Bilderstreit: Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960, Rheinhalle, Cologne, Germany
Image World: Art and Media Culture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
High and Low: Modern and Popular Culture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
1987
Europe/America, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany. Prospect 86, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
Avant Garde in the Eighties, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA
L'époque, la morale, la passion, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1986
An American Renaissance, Painting and Sculpture Since 1940, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Barry Lowen Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
1985
Polke, Salle, Clemente, Contemporary Art Gallery, Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
Overture, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy.
Carnegie International, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA.
XIII Biennale de Paris, Grande Halle du Parc de la Villette, Paris, France
1984
An International Survey of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
The Heroic Figure, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, USA. Travelled to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, Louisiana, USA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, USA
Content, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC, USA
The Human Condition: SFMMA Biennial III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA
1983
Directions 1983, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., USA
1983 Biennial Exhibition, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA.
New York Now, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
New Art, The Tate Gallery, London, UK
Tendencias en Nueva York, Crystal Palace, Madrid, Spain
São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil
Back to the USA, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
1982
Dokumenta 7, Kassel, Germany.
Clemente, Kiefer, Salle, Schnabel: New Paintings, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
74th American Exhibition, The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Zeitgeist, Internationale Kunstausstellung, Berlin, Germany.
Focus on the Figure: Twenty Years, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Eight Artists: The Anxious Edge, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Art and the Media, Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois, USA
The Americans: Collage 1950-1982, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, USA
Avanguardia Transavanguardia, Gallerie Civica, Modena, Italy
Body Language, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
New York Now, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
Image Scavengers: Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Venice Biennale, Aperto, Venice, Italy
1981
Young Americans, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA
Westkunst: Heute, Cologne, Germany
U.S. Art Now, Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Goteborg, Sweden
Public and private collections
Australia
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Canberra
Austria
Albertina, Vienna
Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg
Denmark
Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebaek
Finland
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
France
Musée National D'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Germany
Hamburger Bahnhof, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Ludwig Forum für International Kunst, Cologne
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Italy
Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Trento
Israel
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
Portugal
Sintra Museum, Sintra
Republic of South Korea
Ho-Am Museum, Seoul
Spain
El Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Santander y Cantabria
Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
Switzerland
Kunstmuseum, Basel
UBS Art Collection
Thailand
Sansab Museum, Bangkok * opens 2019
The Netherlands
Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
Turkey
Elgiz Museum, Istanbul
United Kingdom
The Saatchi Collection, London
Tate Gallery, London
USA
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Akron Art Museum, OH
Pellizzi Family Collection, Columbus, OH
The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Dallas Museum of Art, TX
The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Glass House, New Caanan, CT
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on –Hudson, NY
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The New York Public Library, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Chase Manhattan Collection, New York, NY
Lever House Art Collection, New York, NY
The Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
National Gallery, Washington D.C.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Phillip Schrager Collection Omaha, NE
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Farnsworth Art Museum, Farnsworth, ME
Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Seattle Art Museum, WA
Tacoma Art Museum, WA
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
University of Oklahoma Museum, Norman, OK
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
The Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vermont, VT