Who

A phenom of the drugs-and-money-fueled 1980s art scene, Salle fell off the map in the 1990s, but has recently been staging a comeback.

Backstory

Midwesterner Salle came to New York in 1975 following art school; he ended up taking a job in the art department of a soft-core porno magazine, which provided him with material for his future paintings. Fellow artist Ross Bleckner introduced him to gallerist Mary Boone—soon to be the hottest art dealer of the '80s—and Salle had his first show at her gallery in 1981. A series of high-profile shows with Boone and Leo Castelli made Salle a star, and he and Julian Schnabel became the poster children for the decade's Neo-Expressionist movement. When the art bubble burst, Salle's fortunes took a downturn—both literally and artistically—and the ensuing lackluster work prompted the Times to opine that "if Salle's painting shocked anyone in the 90's … it was because it became so bland." While Salle kept producing canvasses in the years that followed—and bounced from Mary Boone to Larry Gagosian and then back to Boone in 2002—he also began dabbling in sculpture, photography, film, and theater design. As of late, his paintings have enjoyed something of a resurrection on the art market. His Vagrant sold for $576,000 at Sotheby's in 2006.

Of note

Like Jay McInerney and Gordon Gekko, Salle helped define the culture of 1980s New York. His ironic and inscrutable paintings—many of which featured the deadpan use of pornography, leading to charges that his work demeaned women—turned away from abstraction a la Jackson Pollock and toward the post-modernism that now defines contemporary art. But Salle's prominence, along with those of compadres Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl, was due to more than art; the trio was at the center of the '80s feeding frenzy in which paintings became the luxury item of choice for nouveau riche buyers.

On screen

Salle directed the 1995 film Search and Destroy, which was produced by Martin Scorsese and featured Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, and Christopher Walken. The film failed to make much of an impression, perhaps because, like much of Salle's art, no one could understand what it was supposed to be about.

Personal

He was in a long-term relationship with "punk ballerina" Karole Armitage, a fellow '80s art-world icon with whom he has collaborated on several projects. They never married, and Salle is still single. He keeps a pied-a-terre in Manhattan, but spends most of his time at his farmhouse in Sagaponack.