IN THE EARLY 1980S, artist David Salle made an imposingly big name for himself with paintings that elevated the use of pastiche—the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated imagery delivered in contradictory styles that nevertheless hold together as a whole.
Although he still works in a similarly collage-inspired vein, the 62-year-old painter has embraced an ever-expanding roster of media over his 40-year career. He’s created glazed stoneware sculptures that look like smashed vessels, directed a feature-length film (1995’s “Search and Destroy”) and dabbled in other arts, including a long-running collaboration with choreographer Karol Armitage, for whom he has created set and costume designs. “When people ask about my contribution to her ballets, I usually say, ‘I do the décor,’ ” he said, half-jokingly.
Humor aside, Mr. Salle is something of a design buff. In his work, he’s borrowed freely from the world of interiors—adhering a set of legless Eames chairs to his seminal 1983 painting “Brother Animal,” for example—and has turned images of household goods into highly charged signifiers on his canvasses. He has also worked with architect Christian Hubert on two residences: a Tribeca loft in Manhattan, complete with a flagstone accent wall, and a zinc-clad house in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he currently lives. Meanwhile, his airy, light-filled country home in East Hampton comes equipped with giant hanging paper lanterns and Hermann Czech chairs by Thonet. “Everything in my houses is pretty deliberate,” said Mr. Salle. “Except for all the stuff that’s not.”
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