In the late 1950s, a lone artist launched a pointed attack on US high culture. Long before "bad painting" became a central concern of contemporary art, Peter Saul was deliberately offending good taste. In his unmistakable language, the painter developed a cross-over of Pop Art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, San Francisco Funk, and Cartoon Culture in which he addressed political and social issues. He shares with Pop Art an interest in the banal, in consumer society, and in the cheerful imagery of comics in bright, appealing colors.
Not least, however, his work is linked to the aesthetic strategies of the counterculture in California. An almost angry painting is revealed when Saul addresses the dark side of the American Dream. Here, the simultaneity of exuberant humor and playful yet harsh system criticism is revealed. For the first time in Europe, the SCHIRN presents a comprehensive overview of this important "artist's artist", who has so far received too little attention.
An exhibition of the SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT in cooperation with the Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Sammlung Falckenberg
Text source and further information about this event: http://www.schirn.de/ausstellungen/2017/peter_saul/
