Ha Ha Ha

In Ha, Ha, Ha, Peter Saul has painted a liquefication. His subject, a black-haired man, is melting: while his nose, mouth, and ears remain somewhat in place, his eye has migrated south, as surreal as any of Rene Magritte’s ocular creations. Like sardonic supertitles, the titular laughter has been scrawled above in pale blue. Born in San Francisco, Saul came of age against the backdrop of Abstract Expressionism; while he was enthralled by these artists’ gestural brushwork, he wanted to paint the ephemera and imagery of his everyday world. His ensuing visual idiom—a gestural Pop art—satirizes politician, social ills, and his own self all rendered in Day-Glo colours. ‘When I start painting, I forget about myself,’ Saul has said. ‘This artwork is my attempt to make paintings that art hot rather than cool. It’s like reaching for the hot sauce at a restaurant so your dish has more oompf’ (P. Saul quoted in N. Sayej, ‘Pop art painter Peter Saul: “What's the matter with me? Who knows”’, The Guardian, 19 February 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/19/pop-art-painter-peter-saul-politics-satire-protest-new-museum).