Eric Fischl is an American
painter, sculptor, and print-maker, though he is best known for his
narrative paintings. He was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up
on Long Island. His family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1967 where he
studied art at Phoenix University and completed his Bachelor of Fine
Arts at the California Institute for the Arts. Fischl decided to
pursue art when he discovered how painting was an integral part of
himself. He repeatedly heard that painting was dead, so he rebelled.
After moving to Nova Scotia and teaching painting at the Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design, Fischl moved back to New York City where
he had his first solo show in 1979.
Bad Boy, Eric Fischl, Oil on Canvas, 66 x 96 ”,1981
Most of Fischl's paintings
are narratives focusing on contemporary American culture in a darkly
comedic way.Fischl is Influenced by the
expressive nature of San Francisco painters such as Richard
Diebenkorn, Dave Parks, and Elmer Bischoff. Fischl largely is a
proponent of the convergence of art and science and was once part of
a group of artists and scientists that would discuss how art,
science, and human nature intertwine and react. Fischl describes his
process as working backwards from high-end technology to create a
more primitive result. He photographs a scene, alters the image in
Photoshop, and then proceeds to produce a painting from the altered
image. His narratives often depict their subjects paused in a
poignant moment portraying the more timeless qualities of themselves.
Viewers are able to imagine the subjects' past and future to
encapsulate the described moment in the way of a story.
Dog Days (Diptych), Eric Fischl, Oil on Canvas, 84 x 168 ",1983
I am intrigued by Fischl's
subject matter and outlook on painting. I am not as much interested
by his process of manipulating images in Photoshop because that makes
painting less of an intuitive response to the subject and more of a
formulated response to my ideas. His critical yet playful look at
society is far from arrogant and inserts himself in the hidden mania
of our culture.
The Bed, The Chair, The Sitter, Eric Fischl, Oil on Canvas 73 x 93 ", 1999
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