Literary Citations Abound in Andrew Salgado’s Vibrantly Layered Portraits
“When We Cease To Understand The World (Grothendieck’s Ghost)”(2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 180 x 160 centimeters. All images courtesy of Damian Griffiths and BEERS London, shared with permission
Literary Citations Abound in Andrew Salgado’s Vibrantly Layered Portraits
June 4, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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A new body of work by Andrew Salgado (previously) unfurls from a central premise: we are the books we read. The artist, who works between London and New Brunswick, Canada, is literarily insatiable and considers every unread tome an opportunity of “infinite possibility.”
At BEERS London, Salgado’s Self-Portrait as a Stack of Books presents a series of paintings that open like chapters and together, build a larger narrative. “My Year Of Rest And Relaxation” directly references Ottessa Moshfegh’s bleary novel of the same name and depicts a young protagonist inert and detached. There’s also “Véra (Please Come Over, You’re Always Welcome),” which portrays a resolute Véra Nabokov writing what might be one of her since destroyed letters.
“Véra (Please Come Over, You’re Always Welcome)” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 76 x 61 centimeters
Salgado is continually interested in citation and the ways that memories and experiences layer atop and mold one another. Many of the authors he’s drawn to—Virgina Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges, and Margaret Atwood among them— “are influenced by art. By music and painting. They write about it all the time. The word is ekphrasis,” he adds. “Nabokov lists over 150 paintings in his collected works. So why shouldn’t the inverse also be true?”
Intuitive marks of oil paint and pastel characterize Salgado’s works and seem to build up over time. Irregular stripes and circles add greater depth and dimension to patches of color delineating a dress or facial feature, leaving each scene with a certain indeterminacy. Allowing for interpretation and an array of personal references is essential to the artist’s thinking: “It’s ready for the taking. And whatever you take from it—from the books, or the paintings, or the ideas within—it’s all right. It’s all correct. There are no wrong answers,” he says.
Self-Portrait as a Stack of Books is on view through June 28. Find more on Salgado’s website and Instagram.
“My Year Of Rest And Relaxation” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 90 x 100 centimeters
“St. Augustine’s Confessions” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 160 x 125 centimeters
“Hotel Du Lac” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 152 x 117 centimeters
“Meditations” (Sayings, Speeches, Notes) (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 150 x 120 centimeters
“The Last Evening On Earth” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 125 x 100 centimeters
“Beware of Pity” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 80 x 75 centimeters
“The Aleph & Other Stories” (2025), oil and oil pastel on linen, 216 x 164 centimeters
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