David Salle
(Born 1952)
Born in 1952 in Oklahoma, David Salle grew up in Wichita, Kansas. In 1970, he was part of the foundational class at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he studied with John Baldessari. After earning a BFA in 1973 and an MFA in 1975, both from CalArts, Salle moved to New York, where he has lived since.
Like many artists of his generation, David Salle initially drew inspiration for his rich visual vocabulary from existing pictures, often from the worlds of advertising and graphic communication. He sought out images that, as he put it in a 1981 interview, “understand us.” Distinct from others of his generation, the mainspring of Salle’s imagery has always been his own photography, the carefully staged and lit scenes that appear in his paintings like telexes from the unconscious. Since the mid-80s, his paintings have continued to expand their emphasis on dynamic, relational composition. A typical Salle painting is one in which the viewer’s eye is kept moving; the structure and placement of images create internal rhythms that pulse with energy. Salle’s paintings often contain allusions to artists of the past – from Velázquez and Bernini, to Picasso, Giacometti, and Magritte, as well as to American art both post and pre-war. However, a catalog of references can be misleading; sources do not a painting make. The meaning of Salle’s paintings lies in the way images are contextualized and presented, with the poetry of their juxtaposition, and, more than anything, with how they are painted.
Salle’s paintings have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide for over 35 years. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Whitney Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MoMA Vienna; Menil Collection, Houston; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; the Kestner Geselshaft, Hannover; the Guggenheim Bilbao. He was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Dallas Contemporary in 2015 and the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Málaga, Spain in 2016. He has participated in major international expositions including Documenta 7 (1982), Venice Biennale (1982 and 1993), Whitney Biennial (1983, 1985, and 1991), Paris Biennale (1985), and Carnegie International (1985).
Salle is also widely recognized as one of the most trenchant and original critical voices of the past decade. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A collection of his essays, How To See was published in 2016 by W.W. Norton.
EDUCATION
1975 | MFA California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
1973 | BFA California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris [forthcoming]
2022
David Salle, The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
David Salle, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2021
David Salle, The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
David Salle: Tree of Life, Skarstedt, New York
David Salle: Alchemy in Real Life, Lehmann Maupin, Seoul, Korea
David Salle: Pictures of People and Paintings on Magazines, Vortic, Online Exhibition
2020
Works on Paper, Skarstedt, East Hampton, NY
David Salle; Self-Ironing Pants and Other Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac-Marais, Paris, France
2019
Musicality and Humour, Skarstedt, London
David Salle: Portraits, Flowers, and Wire, Galerie Javier Lopez & Fer Francis, Madrid, Spain
2018
David Salle: Paintings 1985 - 1995, Skarstedt, New York
2017
David Salle: Ham and Cheese and Other Paintings, Skarstedt, New York
David Salle: New Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2016
David Salle: Inspired by True-Life Events, CAC Málaga, Málaga, Spain
David Salle, Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong
2015
Debris, The Dallas Contemporary Museum, Dallas, Texas
New Paintings, Skarstedt, New York
2014
Maureen Paley, London, United Kingdom
Collage, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
Ghost Paintings, Skarstedt, New York
David Salle/Francis Picabia, Galerie Thaddeaeus Ropac, Paris, France
David Salle: Ghost Paintings, The Arts Club, Chicago, IL
Tapestries/Battles/Allegories, Lever House Art Collection, New York
Leeahn Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Leeahn Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
2012
The Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York
Lever House Art Collection, New York
Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, Germany
2011
David Salle: Recent Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Maureen Paley, London, United Kingdom
2010
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
2009
Héritage du Pop Art, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
2008
Galleri Faurschou, Copenhagen, Denmark
Studio d/Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2007
Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
David Salle: New Works, Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Bearing the Lion in His Den, Deitch Projects, New York
David Salle: 1, 2, 3, 4, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
2005
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
2004
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Stella Art Foundation, Moscow, Russia
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
2003
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom
Emilio Mazzoli Galleria D’Arte Contemporanea, Modena, Italy
2002
Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
Lehmann Maupin, New York
2001
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Jablonka Galerie, Cologne
2000
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, A.C., Monterrey, Mexico
1999
Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York
Gagosian Gallery, New York
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
1998
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
Itochu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997
Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California
Claudia Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
1996
Galerie Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, France
1995
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Gagosian Gallery, New York
1994
Gagosian Gallery, New York
1993
Newport Harbor Art Museum, California
1992
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands
1991
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Robert Miller Gallery, New York. (photographs)
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1990
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Fred Hoffman Fine Art, Santa Monica, California
Castelli Graphics, New York
1989
Waddington Galleries, London
Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
1988
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York. (with Jasper Johns and Bruce Naumann)
Mary Boone/Michael Werner Gallery, New York
The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
Fundacion Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Spain
Traveled to Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich, Germany;
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv.
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1987
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Spiral Garden, Wacoal Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
1986
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Castelli Graphics, New York
Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund. Traveled to Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Traveled to: The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, California; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1985
Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, Germany
1984
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Mario Diacono Gallery, Rome, Italy
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1983
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Galerie Schellmann & Kluser, Munich (with Francis Picabia)
Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1982
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1981
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Lucio Amelio Gallery, Naples, Italy
1980
Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1979
Gagosian/Nosei Weber, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Luncheon on the Grass, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
2021
Faces and Figures, Skarstedt, East Hampton, NY
Whimsy, Southampton Art Center Outdoor Sculpture Garden, NY (curated by Eric Fischl)
2019
At First Glance: Fischl Sculptures and Salle Photographs, Skarstedt, New York
Inaugural Exhibition, Skarstedt 64th Street, New York
Wo Kunst geschehen kann. Die frühen Jahre des CalArts, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
2018
Every Picture Tells a Story, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY
Running Wild, The Arts Club, London
In My Room: Artists Paint the Interior 1950-Now, The Fralin Museum of Art at The University of Virginia, VA
2017
Third Space /shifting conversations about contemporary art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
America! America! How Real is Real?, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
Social Surfaces, Artists Space, New York
Alex Katz / David Salle, Auroras, São Paulo, Brazil
Hope and Hazard: A Comedy of Eros, curated by Eric Fishl, Hall Art Foundation, VT
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
Fast Forward: Paintings from the 1980s, Whitney Museum of Art, New York
2016
Painters' Painters, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Cindy Sherman and David Salle: History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings, Skarstedt, London, United Kingdom
A Selection of Works from the 1980s, Vito Schnabel Gallery, St. Moritz
Unfinished Business: Paintings from the 1970s and 1980s by Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, and David Salle, Parrish Art Museum, Bridgehampton, New York
Water | Bodies, presented by the New York Academy of Art, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, New York
Condo, Kippenberger, Oehlen, Salle, Skarstedt, London, United Kingdom.
Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Member and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
Condo, de Kooning, Kippenberger, Muñoz, Salle, Warhol, Skarstedt, London, United Kingdom
Body Superficial, Sgorbati Projects, New York
Nice Weather, curated by David Salle, Skarstedt, New York
Condo, Gonzalez-Torres, Kelley, Prince, Salle, Sherman, Trockel, Wool, Skarstedt, New York
2015
Matters of Pattern, Skarstedt, New York
Ghada Amer, Trisha Baga, Robin Cameron, Joanne Greenbaum, Pam Lins, Alice Mackler and David Salle, Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New York
MAD: Making Art Dance, Backdrops and Costumes Celebrating, 30 Years of the Armitage Foundation, Glass Gallery, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2014
Variations in Abstraction, Skarstedt, New York
URBAN THEATER: NEW YORK ART IN THE 1980s , The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas
Rauschenberg: Collecting and Connecting , Nasher Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Beg, Borrow, Steal, Medical Facilities of America Gallery/Temporary Exhibitions Gallery and The Media Lab , Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia
Modernism from the National Gallery of Art: The Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Collection, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
To Have and to Hold , The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida
2013
Meshes of the Afternoon, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
DSM-V The Future Moynihan Station, New York (Curated by David Rimanelli and presented by Vito Schnabel)
2012
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
The Brucennial 2012 Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York
Daum 10! The First Decade, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
2011
Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
Pop Art 1960’s-2000’s from Misumi Collection, Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamansashi Prefecture, Japan
Distant Star, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
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 of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Brucennial 2010: Miseducation, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York
Your History is Not Our History, Haunch of Venison, New York (curated by David Salle and Richard Phillips)
Pastiche, The Pace Gallery, New York
Re-Dressing, Bortolami Gallery, New York
Songs for Sale: Robert Rauschenberg/David Salle/Michael Bevilacqua, Faurschou Beijing, Beijing, China
2009
The Pictures Generation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2008
Passioniert Provokativ Die Sammlung Stoffel, Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich,
Germany
Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
2007
Not for Sale, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York
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
2001
Mythic Proportions: Painting in the 1980's, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida
Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: Four Decades of Art form the Broad Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
2000
Around 1984: A Look at Art in the Eighties, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York
1999
The American Century: Art & Culture, 1900-2000 Part 2, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The First View, Sammlung Essl, Vienna, Austria
1998
Contemporary Art: The Janet Wolfson de Botton Gift, Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Young Americans 2, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1996
The Robert and Jane Meyehoff Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1993
Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
The Portrait Now, National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1992
Allegories of Modernism, Contemporary Drawing, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Curated by Bernice Rose.
1991
1991 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
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
High and Low: Modern and Popular Culture, Museum of Modern Art, New York
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
L'epoque, la morale, la passion, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1986
An American Renaissance, Painting and Sculpture Since 1940, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Barry Lowen Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
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
The Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
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
The Heroic Figure, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas. Traveled to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee; Alexandria Museum of Art, Louisiana; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Content, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Human Condition: SFMMA Biennial III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
1983
Directions 1983, The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
1983 Biennial Exhibition, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
New York Now, Kunstverin fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany
New Art, The Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Tendencias en Nueva York, Crystal Palace, Madrid, Spain
Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Back to the USA, Kunstmuseum, Luzern, Switzerland
1982
Dokumenta 7, Kassel, Germany
Clemente, Kiefer, Salle, Schnabel: New Paintings, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, United Kingdom
74th American Exhibition, The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois
Zeitgeist, Internationale Kunstausstellung, Berlin, Germany
Focus on the Figure: Twenty Years, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Brochure by Barbara Haskell
Eight Artists: The Anxious Edge, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Art and the Media, Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois
The Americans: Collage 1950-1982, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas
Avanguardia Transavanguardia, Gallerie Civica, Modena, Italy
Body Language, Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
New York Now, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
Image Scavengers: Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Catalogue by Janet Kardon.
Venice Biennale, Aperto, Italy
1981
Young Americans, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Westkunst: Heute, Cologne, Germany
U.S. Art Now, Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Goteborg, Sweden
MUSEUM / PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Akron Art Museum, OH
Albertina, Vienna: Essl Collection, Austria
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
The Broad, Los Angeles, CA
The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Dougls S. Cramer Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Dallas Museum of Art, TX
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Elgiz Museum, Istanbul
Farnsworth Art Museum, Farnsworth, ME
Faurschou Foundation, NY & Denmark
Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs The Glass House, New Caanan, CT
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York, NY
Janis Kanter & Tom McCormick/ Kanter Family Foundation, Chicago
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vermont
Hamburger Bahnhof, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany
Hessel Museum of Art, CS-Bard, Annandale-on –Hudson, NY
Ho-Am Museum, Seoul, Korea
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
Lever House Art Collection, New York, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
Ludwig Forum für International Kunst, Aachen, Germany
The MER Collection, Madrid, Spain
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
The Morgan Library and Museum, New York NY
Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
Musée National D'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
The New York Public Library, NY
National Gallery, Washington D.C.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
New Orleans Museum of Art, LA
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
The Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY
Pellizzi Family Collection, Columbus, OH
Phillip Schrager Collection Omaha, NE
Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
The Saatchi Collection, London, United Kingdom
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
Sansab Museum, Bangkok, Thailand * opens 2019
Seattle Art Museum, WA
Sintra Museum, Portugal, Spain
Staedelmmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma Washington
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
UBS Art Collection
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
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT