David Salle: Layering

His Style:

David Salle is an American contemporary artist. He uses painting, photography and printmaking combined in his work through the use of layering. His art incorporates many different styles in one to create his masterpiece. One might think art like this to be complex and displeasing to the eye, but David Salle's use of vibrant colors and his ability to not over layer his pieces makes the different ideas complement each other. Although you might find the theme or idea of the piece to be difficult to understand, his art is still quite wonderful.

Analyzing:

The piece to the right is my favorite of his works I've seen thus far. The first thing I noticed was the colors. They complement each other greatly and are very vivid. It is very stimulating. Also, there is use of juxtaposition between the left and the right of the painting. On the left the main color you see is that clay red, while on the right blue is the dominant color. Also, the left has people bleeding, while the right has an angel. This adds a sort of violent or intense feel for the left side and calm emotions toward the right. The two sides are brilliantly contrasted and the more I look at the painting the more I discover. Personally, I find it hard to pin point the exact meaning or theme the painting portrays, but I do feel it has to do with the struggle with life and the calmness that comes after life.

My Application:
Layering is a lot like hybridity and I had said in my last blog post how I was excited to try it out. I already have an idea to combine 3D animation and film, but who's to say that that is not also layering. I enjoy the complexity of layering and think it is an important technique to remember if you want a less straight forward piece, that leaves more of the interpretation up to the viewer. Also, I want to study more avant garde art that is different from the norm. Many people are very cookie-cutter, which is not wrong, but with art nothing is wrong, so I want to try to make something more unique. Not saying I need to stand out or anything, but it is a fact that something that differs from the norm would get more attention. I think it is a smart path to follow and something I would like to learn. I'm ready to try anything to find where I truly want to base my art around, so during this experimental phase I want to apply layering as well as hybridity to come up with something never seen before.

Words From The Artist:
This video describes how and why David Salle creats his work the way he does. It is quite fascinating to look into the mind of this artist. His inspirations and motivations are quite intense and important. He talks about "the narrative power of the images themselves" and I find that beautifully put. Art is not art without evoking a sort of emotion or thought and that is what I mostly enjoy about art. I want to make something that evokes feeling toward my work or character that the viewer would have never felt if they hadn't seen what I made. After watching this video I respect and enjoy David Salle's art even more. He is articulate and pays attention to detain in a way I didn't realize until he put it into words. Art is very powerful and he is a prime example of this.