‘Dali Advises the President’ by Peter Saul, 2004.
 
Often referred to as the one of the “fathers” of Pop Art, painter and illustrator Peter Saul has been creating his mayhemic, often politically charged masterpieces since the 1950s and at his current age of 82 (Saul will turn 83 in August), he shows no signs of slowing down.
 

‘Ronald Reagan (Abortion),’ 1984.
 
Saul’s vibrantly jarring style will likely remind you of the weirdness found on the pages and on the covers of vintage Zap Comix, and the artist himself has been quoted as saying that his aim with his art was to somehow mesh the art of Dutch American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning together with the classic images found in MAD magazine. I’m pretty sure after looking at the images in this post of Saul’s face-melting paintings, you would agree that he has successfully mashed up both artistic concepts along with a large, LSD-laced dose of Surrealism.  In 2008 the New York Times described Peter Saul as “a classic artist’s artist, one of our few important practicing history painters and a serial offender in violation of good taste.”

With over 800 works under his belt to date, Saul’s paintings will be on display for the first time in Moscow (something the painter “never imagined” would happen) at the Gary Tatintsian Gallery under the amusingly title “You better call Saul!” And speaking of LSD, you can put yours away for now as the images that follow of GOP sweethearts like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and well as other despots and degenerates like Adolf Hitler and O.J. Simpson, will likely conjure up a bonafide, drug-free flashback just by looking at them. Some (such as Saul’s wonderfully bizarre depiction of a three-headed Andy Warhol that I had to include), might be considered NSFW.
 

‘Stalin and Mao,’ 2009.
 

‘Hitler’s Bunker,’ 2006.
 

“The Execution of O.J.,’ 1996.
 

‘The Government of California,’ 1969.
 

‘Bush at Abu Gharib.’
 

‘Grenada,’ 1984.
 

‘Stalin,’ 2007.
 

 

 

 

‘Birth of Pop’ (a work of Saul’s that is part of his first ever show in Moscow, that I had to include in this post for obvious reasons).
 
H/T: Hi-Fructose

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Decorate with drugs: Massive ecstasy pills make for ultra-cool pop art