Biography of Eric Fischl
Painter, sculptor, and printmaker Eric Fischl (born 1948 in New York, USA), likes to pull back the curtain to expose the sordid and often disturbing narratives of American domestic life. His suburban upbringing in the country club environs of affluent Long Island exposed him to its underbelly of alcoholism, sexual repression, and superficiality. Termed a Neo-Expressionist, Fischl came to prominence in the 80s with his figurative paintings, exploring the burgeoning and occasionally squalid sexuality of young men.
Uncomfortable with the celebrity networking culture of the contemporary art world, Eric Fischl famously satirized this highfaluting society in a series of paintings. After the events of 9/11, his sculpture, Tumbling Woman, caused an outcry from the public who saw its visceral portrayal as disrespectful. According to Fischl, however, it was "a sincere attempt to put feelings into form and to share them".
Eric Fischl is also the founder and lead curator of America, Now and Here. A traveling exhibition designed to stimulate a nationwide discussion about American identity through the arts by bringing together some of the country's most celebrated visual artists, dramatists and poets. Having exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Fischl now enjoys his elevated status as one of America's foremost contemporary painters.
