David Salle is an American painter, printmaker and stage designer. His work is in the permanent collection of museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the Tate Gallery. Mr. Salle is credited with having helped define postmodern sensibility.
He reads the paper in pre-modern form, “Always and only in print, standing up at a kitchen counter,” he says.
Do you read the paper straight through or skip around?
I skip around – and often save the best (Wednesday, Food) or the worst (Thursday, Style) for last.
I do not read the sports section, although photographs of athletes are often the most dynamic thing in the paper, visually.
Is reading the paper more sport than chore?
Neither. I read the paper because I have always done so; it’s part of living here. When I’m not in town – for months at a time during the summer – I don’t look at it at all.
Anything on Page 1 that speaks with particular force to postmodern sensibility?
I don’t know if it’s my postmodern sensibility, but the strip at the bottom of Page 1 advertising Christie’s upcoming auction caught my eye. Brando and Elvis.
Today’s paper is all about cinema in one way or another; the cinema effect is all over it and spilling out of it.
The language used in the story about lobbyists, bearing gifts, pursuing state attorneys general: “… allegations of deceptive advertising… it moved quickly to shut the investigation down….” What is that if not the plot of a Hollywood film?
What’s new in this story is how completely unabashed the lobbyists are – they don’t even bother to hide the fact that the government is for sale. They are in fact quite pleased with themselves; the more people know about it, the better it is for business.
The photo of Florida’s attorney general on Page 1 has an echo of Fassbinder: an attractive blond woman, smiling blithely, surrounded by men dressed in dark suits and ties who look as though they have something to hide. I think it’s a photograph of Florida attorney general Pam Bondi being interviewed by the press – someone’s holding a microphone in the lower left corner – but as an illustration of (apparently legal) corruption, the photograph is beautifully staged.
Did you follow the Times series on Rikers Island? There is a follow-up story on the front page today about high-ranking Rikers officials stepping down after much criticism over the handling of violence and brutality at the jail.
I approach the paper in a more impressionistic way; I don’t really follow stories as such.
Are there certain kinds of stories you tend to skip?
It has more to do with a certain kind of language – when the paper is obliged to quote some bureaucratic-speak, the kind that means the opposite of what it says.
Some things that are just irredeemably sad I might skip over. Like the Rikers story. It depends on how I’m feeling.
National news story: “Secret Service Investigator Quit Amid His Own Scandal.” That’s right, the investigator of a 2012 prostitution scandal resigns after he is implicated in … his own prostitution scandal. Any response to this piece?
I’m shocked, shocked. The funny thing is, the guy must have forgotten just which cathouses they had under surveillance – probably because there were so many. Or maybe he thought he was invisible. Either way, the Secret Service can probably get along without him.
Also in the front section, “French Culture Minister’s Prosaic Reading List Draws Criticism.” The French culture minister admits she hasn’t read a book in two years. She horrified the French. Her revelation inspired one Frenchman to declare, “Barbarism is here.” What do you think?
“Barbarism” must mean something different in French. I knew Michel Guy – he was minister of culture in the mid-70s and remained active in the ministry into the ’80s. A real aesthete, a man of taste as well as vision. He paved the way for the Musée Picasso, among other things. That was then. The current one, who I don’t know at all, seems to be a rather stylish bureaucrat, perhaps an effective one. Her job is to create access to culture, not necessarily to consume it. At least the French still have the job. Should we spend time bemoaning the lack of literary curiosity of one minister? I’d rather read a book.
Have you tired of Ebola news?
After some relentless, close-up images of the crisis, the front-page photo of the field hospital was taken at a merciful distance. It’s the irony that great tragedy can produce some ravishing images – today’s picture looks like something from a Jane Campion film. I’m not tired of the Ebola news, just very saddened by it.
Did you find any good news in the paper today?
In the business section: Simplicity is in on Madison Avenue. Very good news.
Do you read obits? Any today that caught your attention?
I always read the obits. I was sorry to read about Kit Carson. I knew him briefly in the ’80s, when he wrote the remake of Godard’s “Breathless,” and again in the ’90s. He gave me a DVD of “Bottle Rocket” and told me the guy – Wes Anderson – was very talented.
Any columnists you particularly like?
The only columnist I look at regularly is Paul Krugman, who should be required reading for eighth grade and up.
Arts. Anything in this section that particularly surprised or delighted you?
Godard’s dog, Roxy. Here’s Godard again – and from A. O. Scott’s description, still defecating on the audience.
Anything in the paper today that made you laugh?
It didn’t exactly make me laugh, but there is a description of what Republicans favor, and Elvis is on the list. He is also irresistible to auction houses – see the pullout “Experience Christie’s” section inviting readers to try out their app. Edouard Manet, Andy Warhol, channeling two beloved movie icons, and some Chinese painter – simplicity is in.