Artist Kelly Reemtsen has filed a copyright lawsuit against David Salle, claiming that his 2025 painting Hatchet closely mirrors key elements from two of her works. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, seeks damages, profits, and an order blocking the painting from being sold or shown.
According to the filing, Hatchet shares the pose, composition, clothing, and visual mood of Reemtsen's Impact and It's All Black and White. The lawsuit says the main difference is the object held by the figure, which is an axe in Salle's work instead of a sledgehammer in one of Reemtsen's paintings.
The painting first appeared in Salle's My Frankenstein exhibition at Sprüth Magers Los Angeles in February. It was created partly with the help of artificial intelligence, as Salle has been developing a generative model trained on his own body of work. By using selected images from his archive, he has explored new visual combinations through AI-assisted methods.
Reemtsen's legal team argues that an email Salle allegedly sent in March supports the claim that he used one of her images after finding it online. The complaint also says the dispute affected her professional relationships and diverted attention from her own practice. Salle has not publicly responded, while the gallery has said the matter remains pending.
As AI becomes more integrated into artistic workflows, cases like this may help shape future standards for authorship, originality, and creative rights in contemporary art.
