“I am a storyteller. And a painter. I am looking for a dramatic and dynamic moment.”
We met American artist Eric Fischl for an extraordinarily honest conversation about his life, art, and urge to confront taboos.
“Growing up, the interior of our house was one of chaos, constant chaos, harm, and pain. And the exterior looked like everybody else’s house. All of those experiences are certainly formative.”
“The process of becoming an artist is discovering the themes of one’s life, of my life. And my ambition is to search for and capture authenticity; the authentic moment, the authentic sense of what it is to be human.”
Eric Fischl mentions the topic of puberty as an example:
“It is something that doesn’t get talked about. It gets dismissed. It gets passed off as if young people are going through a difficult period. But this loses what it is. It is something profoundly physical. So, part of my ambition and practice has been to bring the body back into the conversation.”
Postwar America has been central to Eric Fischl’s practice and paintings. Often, he has been critical of aspects of American life and society. When the attacks of 9/11 happened, though, he did not doubt that it was time to gather behind his country and culture:
“I thought that if America ever needed artists, now was the time. I believe artists have the gift to bring order to chaos, giving it a language, shape, and image. It becomes the currency of exchange within society and culture so that people can talk to each other, connect with each other, and stay connected. Because at the center of something like 9/11 or these kinds of disasters, it blows everybody apart. And then, you know, how do we get our way back to each other? That is where art is the glue.”
Eric Fischl is an internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor whose achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Fischl was born in New York in 1948. He graduated from the California Institute of Arts in Valencia in 1972 and was a teacher between 1974 and 1978 at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. Fischl had his first solo show, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson, at Dalhousie Art Gallery in Nova Scotia in 1975 before relocating to New York City in 1978.
Eric Fischl has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions of his work have been held in institutions such as Dallas Contemporary in 2018 in Dallas, Texas; the Albertina in 2014 in Vienna, Austria; the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Malaga in 2010 in Malaga, Spain; the Kestnergesellschaft in 2007-2008 in Hannover; Germany, the Stadtkirche Darmstadt in 2006 in Darmstadt, Germany; and the Delaware Center of Contemporary Art in 2006 in Wilmington, DE. He has also participated in exhibitions at major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée Beaubourg in Paris, France, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Fischl’s work has been featured in over one thousand publications.
Alongside his wife, the painter April Gornik, Eric Fischl co-founded The Church in Sag Harbor. This nonprofit arts center hosts a residency program, a rotating set of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and a browsing library. Fischl was also the founder, president, and lead curator of America: Now and Here. This multi-disciplinary exhibition of 150 of some of America’s most celebrated visual artists, musicians, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers was designed to spark a national conversation about American identity through the arts.
Eric Fischl is a Fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY.
Eric Fischl was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at his studio in March 2024.
Camera: Matthew Heymann
Edited by: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling and Fritz Hansen.
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