Genre-Defying American Painter Peter Saul Joins Gladstone Gallery
Founded by the late Barbara Gladstone, the international gallery has taken on representation of Peter Saul and appointed Anna Christina Furney as director. Save to My Ocula
Gladstone Gallery will represent painter Peter Saul, best known for his rebellious blend of pop art, surrealism, and abstract expressionism.
This marks another significant change for the gallery which also announced the appointment of Anna Christina Furney—formerly a partner at the now-defunct Venus Over Manhattan—as director.
Gladstone will jointly represent the 91-year-old Saul in the U.S. with Michael Werner Gallery, which also represents the artist in the U.K.
Saul began his painting career in 1960, creating works with a cartoonish style while living in Paris. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1964, he critiqued the Vietnam War through his work.
Over the years, Saul has continued to challenge official artistic movements and political narratives, rendering vivid symbols of humour, violence, and the grotesque in an iconic psychedelic style.
‘I like the collision between the art style and the subject,’ Saul said in the lead-up to his 2021 joint exhibition hosted by Venus Over Manhattan and Michael Werner Gallery. ‘I like the conflict.’
Saul’s seven-decade career has seen heights like presentations at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Marseille, and the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow.
His work is also currently in the permanent collections of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.—cementing his status as a legendary pop painter and provocateur.
Furney’s appointment follows an announcement this July by Venus Over Manhattan founder Adam Lindemann that he will be shuttering the New York-based gallery. Furney previously worked alongside Saul for 14 years during her tenure at Venus Over Manhattan. —[O]
Main image: Peter Saul | Still Doing It (7 November 2015) (still). Video. Courtesy the artist, and © Out of Sync 2015.
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