In his recent, timely show Sad Tropics at Anton Kern, renowned Polish painter Wilhelm Sanal turns his cinematic gaze on his sojourn in Los Angeles. Named after Claude Lévi-Strauss’ anthropological travelogue Triste Tropique, it is a commentary on the contradictory nature of urban life in a natural paradise. From his bicycle vantage point, Sasnal has a unique perspective on the city—that of a temporary resident with the fresh eyes of a visitor.
LA has always been a place for dreamers and misfits, which is fitting for an artist such as Sasnal. Amid the sprawl of freeways and strip malls characteristic of the American landscape, he finds the beauty in the banality. In his trademark reductive style, Sasnal paints trivial, everyday life—the scenes of contemporary reality. We see his daughter glued to her cellphone in spite of a beautiful sunset. Motion sensors, trash cans, and ocean rocks are all treated with his distinctive style of simple silhouettes and pared down, yet saturated tones. Bushes are rendered in his signature fluid brushstrokes. Paintings of signs feel like Xerox copies. Using his masterful technique, Sasnal paints not only the visible world of Los Angeles, but the psychological landscape of our time—one marked by uncertainty, contradiction, and an ever-shifting sense of place.
Alongside his exhibition, his new feature film The Assistant will premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Made with his wife Anka Sasnal, it is an adaptation of the 1907 eponymous novel by Swiss writer Robert Walser. The story follows a man who takes a job as an assistant to an eccentric engineer inventor, and finds himself in a myriad of ever-changing roles. Despite his prolific nature, the engineer only manages to produce a series of bizarre and impractical inventions that drive him further into debt rather than bringing the fortune he desires. Though written in the early twentieth century, its themes of servitude, ambition, and connection resonate deeply with our current landscape, much like a Wilhelm Sasnal painting.
‘Sad Tropics’ runs through March 6, 2025 at Anton Kern Gallery in New York.
