Now on sale
Issue 106 Winter 2009
Peter Saul, Stalin, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 78 × 108”. All images courtesy of David Nolan Gallery, New York.
There is something odd and persistent about Peter Saul’s mixture of social commentary, bad-boy imagery, and his ever-evolving cartoon style. While his ’60s paintings seemed clearly anti-Vietnam War, Saul was never a hero of the liberal left, unlike Leon Golub, probably because his work had no clear moral message. Never politically correct, Saul’s paintings continue to be tinged with imagery that could potentially be read as both racist and misogynous, playing with a self-described attraction for pictures with problems. Recently, younger artists seeking a model for addressing the dilemmas of contemporary life and politics have generated a renewed interest in him. In the ’60s, Saul’s cartoon style led many to assume he was associated with the Chicago group of artists known as the Hairy Who. Actually, he’s originally from California, and was living in Europe when Allan Frumkin discovered him. He returned to the U.S. and lived in California before teaching at the University of Texas. After living in upstate New York for the last five years, Saul decided he was finally ready to be closer to the art world and recently moved to New York City’s Upper East Side. The day after he and his wife moved, we met over coffee at his kitchen table.
(Interview)