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Has anyone here seen Eric Fischl's soul?
Eric Fischl's "Dive Deep' at Pennsylvania Academy (2nd review)
Eric Fischl, born in New York in 1948, attained fame and fortune as a figurative painter: the new wave in rebuttal to Abstract Expressionism, represented by one of New York's most prestigious galleries, Mary Boone, and collected by many affluent (especially West Coast) art aficionados.
Fischl, often referred to as a "West Coast artist," has spent most of his career concentrating on the so-called "good life," paying disproportionate attention to suburban houses and pools, beaches and topless female sunbathers. Now, in "Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting," we can see how he did it.
Art students at Pennsylvania Academy will surely find value in Fischl's reconstruction of the myriad steps leading up to the creation of an original artwork. Unfortunately, the finished products themselves— his paintings— failed to elicit an emotional reaction on my part. I had to return to the museum to ascertain that they were really paintings, as opposed to scenes from a film mounted for exhibition.
Eakins as role model
The exhibition includes 14 major paintings from 1979 to the present, each accompanied by Fischl's preliminary drawings, sketches, sculptures as maquettes and digital prints. From these, he selected his figures and determined his composition. Along the way, we see, the Photoshop computer program became an invaluable aid to Fischl's artistic process.
Fischl doesn't paint from a live model, preferring the more natural positions that he claims a camera reveals. Apparently Thomas Eakins was one of his role models. He refers to Eakins's photographs, and we see their influence on Fischl's drawings, prints and paintings of the nude male carrying the dead female nude, especially in Once Where We Looked to Put Down Our Dead (1996), set in a church interior. This was Fischl's mourning painting when he was coming to terms with the death of his father.
A modest suggestion
Fischl's collages create compositions from various digital images in a particular series. They're intended to tell a story but lack any sense of the artist's emotional involvement. Does the threatening, turbulent sea in Sea Scenes from Late Paradise: the Stupidity (2006-07) come up and swallow the swimmer? Does A Brief History of North Africa (1985) convey anything more than icons of two cultures? Who cares? And so what?
Fischl has made it in the marketplace. Now I'd like to see him use his immense artistic talent and innate sensitivity to speak to us in paint from his inner self, his dreams and fears.
It's not too late, Eric. Just do it.
♦
To read another review by Marilyn MacGregor, click here.
Fischl, often referred to as a "West Coast artist," has spent most of his career concentrating on the so-called "good life," paying disproportionate attention to suburban houses and pools, beaches and topless female sunbathers. Now, in "Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting," we can see how he did it.
Art students at Pennsylvania Academy will surely find value in Fischl's reconstruction of the myriad steps leading up to the creation of an original artwork. Unfortunately, the finished products themselves— his paintings— failed to elicit an emotional reaction on my part. I had to return to the museum to ascertain that they were really paintings, as opposed to scenes from a film mounted for exhibition.
Eakins as role model
The exhibition includes 14 major paintings from 1979 to the present, each accompanied by Fischl's preliminary drawings, sketches, sculptures as maquettes and digital prints. From these, he selected his figures and determined his composition. Along the way, we see, the Photoshop computer program became an invaluable aid to Fischl's artistic process.
Fischl doesn't paint from a live model, preferring the more natural positions that he claims a camera reveals. Apparently Thomas Eakins was one of his role models. He refers to Eakins's photographs, and we see their influence on Fischl's drawings, prints and paintings of the nude male carrying the dead female nude, especially in Once Where We Looked to Put Down Our Dead (1996), set in a church interior. This was Fischl's mourning painting when he was coming to terms with the death of his father.
A modest suggestion
Fischl's collages create compositions from various digital images in a particular series. They're intended to tell a story but lack any sense of the artist's emotional involvement. Does the threatening, turbulent sea in Sea Scenes from Late Paradise: the Stupidity (2006-07) come up and swallow the swimmer? Does A Brief History of North Africa (1985) convey anything more than icons of two cultures? Who cares? And so what?
Fischl has made it in the marketplace. Now I'd like to see him use his immense artistic talent and innate sensitivity to speak to us in paint from his inner self, his dreams and fears.
It's not too late, Eric. Just do it.
♦
To read another review by Marilyn MacGregor, click here.
What, When, Where
“Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting.†Through September 30, 2012 at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Brooks gallery, Hamilton Bldg., 128 N. Broad St. (at Cherry). (215) 972-7600 or www.pafa.org/fischl.
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