Maureen Paley is pleased to present the second solo exhibition by David Salle at the gallery. Salle lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and is known for the crucial role his work played in the discussions around postmodernism in contemporary art. Taught by John Baldessari in the 70's at UCLA he is considered part of the Pictures Generation whose work was revisited in an exhibition of the same name at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 2009.

Salle’s subject matter and pictorial language stem from his interest and engagement in performance and his exploration into the relations between painting and cinema.

At the center of the new exhibition is a large painting of the American West titled Trappers (2014). The black and white underlying image is a re-painting of a scene by George Caleb Bingham, one of the most popular American painters of the mid 1800s. Bingham's paintings were extremely theatrical and would be set up in tents where admission was charged in order to view them. Although carefully plotted, the composition of Salle’ painting is also subject to chance as Salle introduces brightly colored body prints that are made by literally dragging a model across the painting's surface. His aim is always to keep the eye moving across and around the space of the painting and in Trappers the actual movements begin to translate into metaphorical ones.

David Salle -