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The Arts Intel Report

Peter Saul: Crime and Punishment

Feb 11 – May 31, 2020
235 Bowery, New York, NY 10002, USA

“So-called ‘good painting’ is like a parade of intelligent thinkers,” American artist Peter Saul told BOMB in 2008. “I’m glad to be outside of that.” Saul has been an art-world outsider since the early 1960s, despite an affinity with the era’s Pop Art, and his trafficking in pop-culture icons. Where the Warholian school shrugs, however, Saul vigorously reacts, painting American murderers and corrupt politicians with similarly ferocious contempt. These ideological underpinnings have made Saul a favorite among younger artists. While his first New York museum survey comes late, with 60 paintings spanning his career—better late than never. —C.J.F.

Peter Saul, “Bush at Abu Ghraib,” 2006. Courtesy of the New Museum, New York.