Salle, David

Salle, David, 1952–, American painter, b. Norman, Okla. One of the artists whose reputation reached its peak during the 1980s, he studied at the California Institute of the Arts (1970–75) and settled in New York City in 1975. Largely due to its eclecticism, his work has been widely referred to as postmodern. Typical of Salle's style are his deadpan use of imagery and techniques appropriated from Old Master and modernist works and of apparently unrelated images (sometimes highly erotic figures of women) superimposed on one another. In addition, his usually large canvases often represent a mixture of figuration and abstraction and of painting and collage techniques. Salle is also a sculptor, photographer, stage designer, and film director.

See his interviews (1987), critical reflections (1994), and the essay collection How to See (2016); J. Kardon, David Salle (1986).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies