David Salle's brilliant canvases changed everything, and now his luminescent eye and voice have married in a book that is destined to alter not only how we look at art, but the language we use to describe it. His essays are a gift that, in addition to feeding one's process of intellection, nourishes one's art-loving soul. Transcendent.--Hilton Als

An upbeat, non-combative approach to art criticism.... [F]resh, engaging.--Roger White "New York Times Book Review"

Witty, chatty, intimate, sharp.--Lorin Stein "Paris Review"

Lovely to read.... [How to See] is serious but never solemn, alert to pleasure, a boulevardier's crisp stroll through the visual world.--Dwight Garner "New York Times"

We feel we are reading the latest from a commentator who has been at it for a lifetime and yet is still making discoveries and sharp, new distinctions... observations that can be funny, warm, offhandedly erudite, arch, or simply commonsensical, and that intensify the part played by art in our lives and the life of art itself.--Sanford Schwartz "New York Review of Books"

[Salle] writes about art that he admires with passion and a discerning eye.... [I]lluminating.--Glen Roven "Los Angeles Review of Books"

A trenchant and light-on-its-feet collection of critical essays... about art, artists, fame, and, if you read it closely enough, what it's like to have been David Salle for all these years.--Carl Swanson "New York Magazine"

A remarkable painter whose writing is as fresh, vital, and startling as his canvases, Salle... talks about artists and their work in witty, jargon-free, and eminently accessible prose.--Tirdad Derakhshani "Philadelphia Inquirer"

How to See is an exhilarating and cathartic experience[, ]... an offering of passion and generosity, and a pulsing invitation to the reader to find the same in the act of seeing.--Simone Grace Seol "National Book Review"

[A] rare mix of eminently readable art criticism and close scrutiny of process and technique. His admiring descriptions... [allow] the reader to momentarily inhabit the consciousness of an artist and to rediscover painting through his eyes.--Rachel Corbett "Vulture"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2018-01-16

Length: 288 pages