SCHIRN MAG
The smell of decay
By Julia Schmitz
Every generation critically addresses their predecessors: In the 1960s, it was Funk Art in California that reacted to Abstract Expressionism and...
The Schirn is presenting the first comprehensive survey of the oeuvre of Peter Saul in Europe.
As an artists’ artist Saul’s idiosyncratic oeuvre has been an important influence on a younger generation of American painters
As an artists’ artist Saul’s idiosyncratic oeuvre has been an important influence on a younger generation of American painters
Subjects of Sauls works are racial conflicts and social discrepancies between poverty and wealth and to this day Saul’s painting deals with contemporary American issues
Subjects of Sauls works are racial conflicts and social discrepancies between poverty and wealth and to this day Saul’s painting deals with contemporary American issues
“Bad Painting” refers to a figurative current in art in the late 1970s where the faithful representation of a theme was abandoned in favor of a consciously poorly-crafted image that sought to provoke those who claimed to have ‘good taste’.
PETER SAUL
until 3 september 2017
In the late 1950s a lone wolf began a concerted attack on America’s high culture. Long before ”Bad Painting” became a central concern of contemporary art, Peter Saul quite deliberately offended good taste. In his unmistakable vein the artist developed a crossover of Pop Art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, San Francisco funk and cartoon culture in which he addressed political and social topics. He shared Pop Art’s interest in the banal, the consumer society and the cheerful imagery of comics in bright attractive colors.
Not least of all his work is also connected however with the aesthetic strategies of the counterculture in California. An almost angry painting is revealed when Saul explores the American dream. Here we find simultaneously over extravagant humor and playful yet harsh criticism of the system. For the first time in Europe the SCHIRN is presenting a comprehensive overview of this great ”artist‘s artist“, who has received too scant attention to date.
An exhibition by SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT in cooperation with the Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg
VIDEO
SCHIRN MAG
War and society
By Marthe Lisson
Protest marches and demonstrations with 100,000 participants: the peace movement in the US mobilized the masses and reached far beyond national...
SCHIRN MAG
Superman vs. Jesus Christ
By Daniel Urban
All or nothing: While today Superman only concentrates on the really big goals, in the 1970s he was on occasion still busy rescuing kittens from...
SCHIRN MAG
A million roses
By Tamara Marszalkowski
How the intellectual and activist Angela Davis became an icon of the American Civil Rights Movement, and simultaneously one of the most-wanted...
SCHIRN MAG
The future of the country
By Jens Balkenborg
As the “chronicler of America’s madness”, Peter Saul addresses the American civil rights movement in his images. With the film “I Am Not Your Negro”,...
