Eric Fischl\'s Works Eric Fischl:

Eric Fischl's Works

"Eric Fischl": Introduction

Eric Fischl was born in New York City in 1948 and grew up on suburban Long Island. His family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1967. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, NS. In 1978 he returned to New York. It was there that he began to paint his often unsettling naturalistic and realistic works. His subject matter of his paintings was unusual in that they were almost exclusively scenes and images of middle-class suburban life.

The ambiance of the images and the atmosphere of contemporary suburbia is one of the hallmarks of his work, as well as the often lavish style of his oils, watercolors and prints. Many critics refer to his historical artistic lineage in terms of style and technique as including the works of Manet, Balthus and Edward Hopper (Art Encyclopedia: Eric Fischl). However, one must also take into account the influence of photorealism in the 1060s which is particularly evident in many of his later works. Critical assessments of his work refer to the primacy of image over content in many of his paintings and artworks. This is a debatable aspect that will form part of the theme of the proposed exhibition.

The theme of ambiguous experience is also increased by the hints of sexuality that pervade many of the works. What made his works even more controversial and noticed in the art world was that they often contained veiled but obvious sexuality; such as the painting entitled Master Bedroom (1983). In this work a nearly naked young girl kneels on a double bed with her arms around a large dog. The subtle hint of sensuality seems to clash with the obvious suburban flavor of the image. It is essentially this incongruity and the effects of a juxtaposition of the ordinary and the strange that this exhibition wishes to highlight.

2. Proposal for a small exhibition of Eric Fischl's work

Title of the exhibition: The Unsaid Experience

The following selection of works by Eric Fischl is intended to highlight central thematic trajectories in his career -- particularly the theme of the unsaid experience. This refers to the narrative and voyeuristic quality of the works which will be further expanded on in the following section.

1.Cargo Cults, 1984

2. Beautiful Day, 2006

3. By the River, 1989

4. Beach Scene With Pink Hat 2006

5. Scenes From Paradise: The Parade 2006

6.Portrait of The Artist 1998

3. Educational pamphlet explaining the exhibition

The overall intention of this exhibition is to provide insight and motivate discussion about the meaning and significance of these works. The theme of the exhibition is based on a telling quotation from his online biography:

"Against a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content, Fischl became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said." ( Eric Fischl: Bio) This refers to a seperation, a mysterious gap, between the experience that is represented and the aspects of that experience that cannot be known or said and which are ambiguous or shrouded in mystery. It also refers to the theme of mundane suburbia that runs through his work, and which is strangely transgressed by voyeuristic views and sexual innuendo.

This refers as well to the moody and unsettling quality of the works and their relationship to the unknown or unsaid. The above selection of paintings needs to be explained in terms of the apparent contradiction between the highly naturalistic and even photorealistic quality of his images and the obscure. For example, in the beach paintings such as Cargo Cult, Beach Scene With Pink Hat, and Scenes From Paradise: The Parade 2006, we encounter rich and sensuous images of middle-aged people who are involved in conversations and activities that we cannot quite comprehend. The narrative is clear but obscured. Furthermore, the figures are often in various stages of undress and nudity, which adds to the sensual and voyeuristic mood of the works. In Cargo Cult the figures are painted luxuriously against an azure background. Some of the figures are in conversation and this again provides a sense of being privy to something that is not quite understood. Furthermore, what makes the scene even more ambiguous and mysterious is the nude figure in the foreground of the painting. This figure provides a sense of incongruity and is sharply juxtaposed against the image of the clothed Middle-aged bathers

There is also another level to the meaning to the painting which is embedded in the title. The term 'cargo cult' refers to, …the activities of Polynesian islanders who, having experienced the bounty of the U.S. Air Force's presence during World War 2 and the sudden disappearance if their generous guests, maintained and built air strips and replicas of aircraft in the vain hope that the airmen might one day return."

(Bednarik)

There is a sense that the artist intended to refer in this work to the mundane life of the ordinary person in terms of the illusion of the cargo cult. In this sense the figures on the beach live a life of illusion, waiting for something that is false or which will not arrive. This adds another philosophical and existential dimension to the work which is also possibly a comment on the emptiness of modern life and the meaningless of the suburban and consumer lifestyle.

Many of the works succeed in presenting images in a style and composition that shocks through an incongruous combination of the strange and the ordinary. This sense of being out-of place and the contradiction between mundane or ordinary experience and the exposure of public nudity is even more obvious in the photo-collage, Beautiful Day. In this picture we also have a nude figure in the foreground depicted against a very ordinary set of images of bathers. The underlying eroticism in the painting adds a layer of intrigue that is an intrinsic part of the aura that the artist creates in his works.

In Beach Scene With Pink Hat we again have the relaxed beach scene with the milling crowd. The scene is active but also strangely silent. The cut-off head also gives the impression of a quick snapshot that is intent on capturing something -- but what that something is, is not quite clear. This sense of incongruity and mystery in ostensibly very ordinary scenes is repeated in Scenes from Paradise: the Parade. The emphasis on the tones and texture of exposed skin is sensuous but at time almost obscene in the focus on naked flesh.

His works are not only limited to suburban and beach scenes. As one critic notes; "He masterfully blends story and mood with free association, looking anywhere and everywhere for inspiration." ( Tuchman) This refers as well to his paintings of Indian subject, such as By the River. Once again the rich naturalism of the work is crisp and clear but hides the actual meaning and intentions of the characters and figures in the work. The angles and the structure of the paintings are also suggestive of indirect voyeuristic views. This is even the cases in By the River in the obtuse and obscure angle and placement of the head of camel.