If one could generally say that Minimalism and its discontent dominated the ’70s, then I think at this point it is fair to say that a kind of “layerism” has dominated the ’80s. This layering of multiple images from diverse sources is a technique that may most readily be identified stylistically with David Salle, but certainly did not originate with him. A common fascination with both the popular media and beaux arts sources stands firmly behind this trend, but the commonality of the work ends there. Layered work can be either abstract or literal, or both.

Greg Reser is a young painter whose work