"Peter Saul: Art History is Wrong" Installation View. Courtesy Almine Rech
Peter Saul Mounts Paintings of Madcap Characters in "Art History Is Wrong" Exhibition
Trump is a shark while god and satan have a dysfunctional father-son relationship.
By Keith Estiler
Ahead of his major survey at the New Museum next month, seminal American painter Peter Saul is the focus of a new exhibition at Almine Rech in Paris. Entitled “Art History is Wrong,” Saul mounts new acrylic paintings that star a diverse cast of madcap characters including Donald Trump as a shark, Napoleon Bonaparte as a dog which seemingly recalls the composition of Jacques-Louis David’s iconic Napoleon Crossing The Alps (1801) painting, as well as god and satan in a dysfunctional father-son relationship.
With this fresh body of work, the artist continues to glean inspiration from ‘60s comic book culture, Chicago imagism, abstraction, and surrealism to develop explosive new pieces that shed light on socio-political issues while flipping art historical conventions. “With a certain exuberance, he shows us the world as it is: disorderly and chaotic,” described the gallery in a statement.
