Peter Saul: Kat. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Sammlung Falckenberg/Deichtorhallen Hamburg

Long before Bad Painting became a central concern of contemporary art, San Francisco born painter Peter Saul (b. 1934) deliberately offended good taste. Employing a crossover of Pop Art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, San Francisco funk and cartoon culture of the 1960s, Saul addressed the pressing political and social topics of his time. Vietnam, Reagan, protests, sex, drugs and the American dream clash in paintings rendered in screaming Day-Glo colors. Returning to San Francisco from Europe in 1956, Saul became a major figure in the 1960s and 1970s before moving to Austin, Texas, in 1980. His early work from the 1960s, recently reembraced by young curators and artists in the United States and Europe, has led to this first solo exhibition in Germany at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2017). The vividly illustrated softcover catalog captures Saul s vision of this tumultuous time in over 100 color reproductions. Saul s work has long been collected by museums worldwide, from Centre Pompidou, Paris, to MoMA, NY.