How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking about Art

by David Salle

Overview

“If John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a classic of art criticism, looking at the ‘what’ of art, then David Salle’s How to See is the artist’s reply, a brilliant series of reflections on how artists think when they make their work. The ‘how’ of art has perhaps never been better explored.” —Salman Rushdie

How does art work? How does it move us, inform us, challenge us? Internationally renowned painter David Salle’s incisive essay collection illuminates these questions by exploring the work of influential twentieth-century artists. Engaging with a wide range of Salle’s friends and contemporaries—from painters to conceptual artists such as Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz, among others—How to See explores not only the multilayered personalities of the artists themselves but also the distinctive character of their oeuvres.

Salle writes with humor and verve, replacing the jargon of art theory with precise and evocative descriptions that help the reader develop a personal and intuitive engagement with art. The result: a master class on how to see with an artist’s eye.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393248142
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/18/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

David Salle’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, Tate Modern, the National Galerie Berlin, and many others. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Acknowledgments 11

Part I How to Give Form to an Idea

The How and the What Alex Katz 15

A Modern-Day Action Painter Amy Sillman 23

Painting with Its Own Megaphone Christopher Wool 27

The German Miracle: The Work of Sigmar Polke 35

The Heart Is Not a Metaphor Robert Gober 43

The Good Student Albert Oehlen 51

A Guy Named Frank Dana Schutz 57

Change Is Hard Roy Lichtenstein 65

The Art of Childhood: Jeff Koons at the Whitney 75

John Baldessari's Movie Script Series 85

The Success Gene: Wade Guyton and Rosemarie Trockel 91

Part II Being an Artist

Vito Acconci: The Body Artist 99

The Petite Cinema of John Baldessari 105

Karole Armitage and the Art of Collaboration 117

The Camera Blinks 123

Old Guys Painting 129

The Grapplers: Marsden Hartley, Philip Guston, and Clyfford Still 139

Urs Fischer: Waste Management 143

Clinging to the Life Raft Jack Goldstein 153

The Art of Mike Kelley Sad Clown 159

Frank Stella at the Whitney 165

Provincialism without a Capital: The Art of Thomas Houseago 171

The Art of Appropriation Frederic Tuten 175

Part III Art in the World

André Derain and Courbet's Palette 183

Picabia, C'est Moi 193

Baby's Giant Bean 199

Lovely Music: The Art of Barbara Bloom 205

Structure Rising 211

Piero Della Francesca 223

Part IV Pedagogy and Polemics

The '80s-What Were They Good For?

A Lecture Delivered at the Milwaukee Museum of Art 229

A Talk for the First Day of Class 237

Art Is Not a Popularity Contest: A Commencement Address Given at the New York Academy of Art, 2011 249

Questions without Answers for John Baldessari 259

Credits 267

Editorial Reviews

The former enfant terrible (his words) is now an affable elder statesman with an upbeat, noncombative approach to art criticism. Eschewing polemics, How to See channels the type of discussion you might overhear between artists—the shoptalk—in the service of helping the reader make sense of the sometimes perplexing world of contemporary art. The watchword of the book is pragmatism. For Salle, "What does it mean?" becomes "How does it work?" To answer the question, he champions "specific attention" over "big ideas" and the anecdotal over the theoretical. The approach pays off in a group of fresh, engaging portraits…of well-known artists—Robert Gober, Jeff Koons and Amy Sillman, to name a few…The book is scrupulously positive, but Salle is at his most engaging when he is wrestling with mixed feelings about an artist's work…over all, How to See makes a strong case that the best, most enjoyable way to understand art is simply to look at it, a lot, and then talk about it, preferably with friends.

The New York Times Book Review - Roger White

Mr. Salle's mission…is to seize art back from the sort of critics who treat each painting "as a position paper, with the artist cast as a kind of philosopher manqué." Mr. Salle is more interested in talking about nuts and bolts, about what makes contemporary paintings tick…How to See is lovely to read, mostly, because Mr. Salle can actually write…He has good feelers and a sensitive, sunny style. He sends you racing to the internet to look up the work of painters he speaks so engagingly about…Mr. Salle also happens to be enormously, and unpredictably, literate…His range of reading takes you places other art writers have not…Mr. Salle's writing in How to See puts me in mind of Frank O'Hara's poems. It's serious but never solemn, alert to pleasure, a boulevardier's crisp stroll through the visual world.

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

08/01/2016
In these wide-ranging essays, painter Salle’s stated goal is to write about art “in the language that artists use when they talk among themselves.” Rather than a manifesto about art or a practical guide, he presents a collection of 33 short essays on artists and topics as different as John Baldessari’s 2014 Movie Script series and the evolving sensibility of Dadaist Francis Picabia’s paintings. Many of the artists Salle covers are his friends, and he writes about Alex Katz and Jeff Koons the way a collaborator shares his notes with other artists. He explains the career arc of painter Christopher Wool and the themes of Robert Gober’s sculptures with precision and acuity. His writing is full of memorable lines, such as “Most painting is a conversation between continuity and novelty.” Salle’s personal familiarity with the artists he discusses lends a special sort of credibility to his critical assessments. By closely examining specific paintings and exhibitions that are meaningful to him, Salle shows readers what makes a particular work of art tick and what makes it interesting. Along the way, he reveals the origins of his own artistic inclinations and his beliefs about talent and imagination. Sharp insights and an affable tone make this collection equivalent to a hearty discussion with a mentor—recommended for anyone interested in visual arts. 30 color illus. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"[A] rare mix of eminently readable art criticism and close scrutiny of process and technique. His admiring descriptions… [allow] the reader to momentarily inhabit the consciousness of an artist and to rediscover painting through his eyes."

10 Best Art Books of 2016 - Vulture - Rachel Corbett

"David Salle has a sharp, thrilling eye and an uncanny ability to reorder and make new the act of seeing. These perceptive, far-ranging essays are drawn from deep knowledge and experience—reading this book feels like having a conversation about art with the smartest person in the room."

Emma Cline

"If John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a classic of art criticism, looking at the ‘what’ of art, then David Salle’s How to See is the artist’s reply, a brilliant series of reflections on how artists think when they make their work. The ‘how’ of art has perhaps never been better explored."

Salman Rushdie

"David Salle’s thoughtful, intelligent, beautifully written essays inspire us to think about, and look at, art in wholly new ways. He makes difficult subjects (and artists) seem effortless, transparent, and he wears the depth and breadth of his knowledge of art and art history so lightly that we hardly notice how much we are learning. How to See is a pure pleasure to read."

Francine Prose

"David Salle asks of other art not, where does this belong? but, what does this make me feel and think about? Salle subtly and persuasively reminds us that all art, even the most seemingly recalcitrant, is there to be looked at, and that what artists do is, exactly, teach us how to see."

Adam Gopnik

"How to See is an exhilarating and cathartic experience[,]… an offering of passion and generosity, and a pulsing invitation to the reader to find the same in the act of seeing."

National Book Review - Simone Grace Seol

"We feel we are reading the latest from a commentator who has been at it for a lifetime and yet is still making discoveries and sharp, new distinctions… observations that can be funny, warm, offhandedly erudite, arch, or simply commonsensical, and that intensify the part played by art in our lives and the life of art itself."

New York Review of Books - Sanford Schwartz

"[Salle] writes about art that he admires with passion and a discerning eye… Illuminating."

Los Angeles Review of Books - Glen Roven

"David Salle is widely known as one of our most daring and intelligent painters, but he is also an eloquent critic. How to See is a marvel of incisive and intimate observation. For all his audacity as a painter, Salle seems touchingly proud to be a part of the family of art and to derive his pictorial forms from what he calls the ‘the shared DNA of art,’ raising the possibility that all masterworks are in fact a group project."

Deborah Solomon

"Wonderful."

Joan Juliet Buck

"David Salle writes about art with a joyous lucidity that is both bracing—nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes his notice—and utterly disarming. He guides his readers through the complex world of contemporary art with a rare generosity of spirit, a dazzling skill at description, and a radiant honesty that are as challenging as they are irresistible."

Ingrid Rowland

"A trenchant and light-on-its-feet collection of critical essays... about art, artists, fame, and, if you read it closely enough, what it’s like to have been David Salle for all these years.”"

New York Magazine - Carl Swanson

"An upbeat, non-combative approach to art criticism.… [F]resh, engaging."

Roger White

"Witty, chatty, intimate, sharp."

Paris Review - Lorin Stein

"David Salle’s brilliant canvases changed everything, and now his luminescent eye and voice have married in a book that is destined to alter not only how we look at art, but the language we use to describe it. His essays are a gift that, in addition to feeding one’s process of intellection, nourishes one’s art loving soul. Transcendent."

Hilton Als

"Lovely to read.… [How to See] is serious but never solemn, alert to pleasure, a boulevardier’s crisp stroll through the visual world."

New York Times - Dwight Garner

"A remarkable painter whose writing is as fresh, vital, and startling as his canvases, Salle… talks about artists and their work in witty, jargon-free, and eminently accessible prose."

Philadelphia Inquirer - Tirdad Derakhshani

★ 2016-07-24
Seeing art through a painter’s eyes. Salle is something of a Renaissance man. Known primarily as a painter, he has also done photography and set design, directed a film, and written essays. These concise pieces, many previously published in publications like Town & Country and Artforum, discuss mainly contemporary works of art, including film and ballet. It’s art criticism, but it’s also a breath of fresh air. There’s no jargon here, just accessible, witty, smartly informative short takes about works Salle enjoys. When looking at art, he writes, “take a work’s temperature, look at its surface energy.” He asks: “What makes a work of art tick, what makes it good?” Surprising, quirky comparisons abound. The 15th-century painter Piero Della Francesca is the “Elia Kazan of staging.” Alex Katz’s paintings are recognizable even when falling out of a plane at 30,000 feet. Thomas Houseago’s sculptures remind Salle of a scene in The Sopranos. Throughout, the author is honest and opinionated. When he first saw Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections series, he was baffled. Frank Stella’s early works are “expansive, confident, and new as to be almost overwhelming.” In the later work, we see a “great champion of the ring, a little wobbly of knee, finally hit the canvas.” Of Oscar Murillo’s paintings, Salle writes, “there is no way to bring them to life, because they never lived in the first place.” Three essays are about John Baldessari, one of Salle’s college professors, who spent his career putting words and pictures together, “testing their stickiness and elasticity, using one to unravel, or to gather up, the other.” The German painter Albert Oehlen is a “terrific painter who flirts with disaster and gets away with it.” Jeff Koons makes the “thingyness of modern life…coherent.” His massive Flower Puppy, writes the author, is the “single greatest work of public sculpture made after Rodin that I’ve seen.” Salle is the perfect art tour guide: literate, thoroughly entertaining, and insightful.

Kirkus Reviews