Biography of Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl was born in New York City in 1948; Eric Fischl grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, his parents having moved there shortly before his second year."Safer place to raise a family", they used to say. 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. Until the late 70's, suburbia was not considered a legitimate genre for art. With his first New York show at the Edward Thorp Gallery, epithets like "psycho-sexual suburban dramas" became velcroed to his disturbing images of dysfunctional family life.
Fischl began his art education in Phoenix, Arizona where his parents had moved in 1967. First at Phoenix Junior College, then a year at Arizona State University, and finally getting his BFA in 1972 at the recently opened California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. After graduation he moved to Chicago where he worked as a guard at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was in Chicago that Fischl was exposed to the non-mainstream art of the Hairy Who. "The underbelly, carnie world of Ed Paschke and the hilarious sexual vulgarity of Jim Nutt were revelatory experiences for me.", Fischl has said. In 1974, he got a job teaching painting at the highly touted Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. It is there that he met his future wife, the painter, April Gornik. In 1978 they moved to New York City where they continue to live and work.
I choose the work by Eric Fischl titled “Birthday Boy” dated back in 1983. It is oil on canvas with the size 84 by 108 inches. This art really caught my attention because of the truth I see in it. The word sex popped up in my head at first glance. A naked woman on the bed with red sheets, she appears to be in an expensive looking room together with her companion and from the looks through those large windows that they were in the city on a high floor at night. The boy looks young, Inexperienced, possible virgin (or not) or maybe he is bored or thinking about something. She looks like she doesn’t care because she is satisfied, happy, relieved and carefree because she has this smirk on her face and it is much more obvious compare to the young boy. The powerful color of the sheet just makes this picture more interesting, alive and apparently sexy which is counterbalanced by the soft dull background. Of course I would say that the main attraction or the emphasis in this picture is the naked woman and the “Birthday Boy” on the red sheet. That is the whole idea in this painting. The young companion (Birthday Boy) is so far back and his features are not as detailed as the woman. When examine in more detail we can see that the woman and the boy are actually touching each other; on his shoulder and on her leg. This portrays closeness and somewhat a feel of intimacy, which represents human emotions and also it, reminds me of seduction and also it reminds me of the movie THE GRADUATE by DUSTIN HOFFMAN which was about seducing. This picture is balanced in the sense that it looks natural. It is not rigid nor is it too harsh. Even from the expression on the faces of the woman and the young boy we can see that there is balance in this picture.
The room is lit by lights from outside and also inside the room. There are two lamps in the picture; one is on a table that is next to a red food tray. On the red tray is a newspaper with a glass of water, but there is a spoon in the glass, so it may contain some kind of alcohol or lemon. Next to the glass on the red tray is a pitcher of water. The lighting in the room seems to make the water have a yellow tint. The second lamp is located behind the young man’s head which it looks like a halo that means he is an innocent or it can say that the boy was curious about the whole action between him and her; the main colors that stand out are red, the contrast to the white and plainness of the room
As observed in the painting the open curtains allow some of the city lights to brighten up the room and the lamps on the table shine on certain corners to give the bright appearance of the room. Some forms can be found in this picture such as the room itself, the bed and some of the glassware on the desk. The space created in this picture seems to emphasize the bed area. The background is plain and simple such as the painting on the almost-empty wall with red, black, purple, orange colors on it and the blur view of the city through the glass window. The painter uses different shades to make the picture more realistic for example the sheet is red but it looks creased. He uses different shades of red to highlight the rising part and darker shades to make it seem like it is the lower part of the sheet. The texture of the red sheet is a bit more folded and creased. The skin of the two beings in the picture gives out a sense of warmth and of course skin like texture.
The movement of this particular piece is from the desk with the glassware, newspaper and table lamp to the main bed and then lastly I would have to say is the background which consists of the glass windows and the walls. This picture is drawn from the corner of the room and its proportion is just about right and real as compared to a real life situation. The things on the desk appear almost the same size as the woman in the picture because it is closer to the artist view. This picture possesses unity and balance. The choice of bold to dull plain colors even out the energy and the subtleness of the picture.
To conclude, this artist has a certain pattern or signature of that red sheet which actually symbolizes love and sex. What he feels is that these properties are connected and are dependent on one another; in other words, one cannot exist without the other. Overall this picture is beautiful, unique, daring, sexy and honest. The lights and open curtains made it feel really bold and just breaking the taboo. Its unconventional in a way at the same time it is not hard to imagine this in a real life situation. The elements and principles brought up in this painting are just perfectly balanced and adequate to send the message through to the audience. After all it is about sex and love
I choose the work by Eric Fischl titled “Birthday Boy” dated back in 1983. It is oil on canvas with the size 84 by 108 inches. This art really caught my attention because of the truth I see in it. The word sex popped up in my head at first glance. A naked woman on the bed with red sheets, she appears to be in an expensive looking room together with her companion and from the looks through those large windows that they were in the city on a high floor at night. The boy looks young, Inexperienced, possible virgin (or not) or maybe he is bored or thinking about something. She looks like she doesn’t care because she is satisfied, happy, relieved and carefree because she has this smirk on her face and it is much more obvious compare to the young boy. The powerful color of the sheet just makes this picture more interesting, alive and apparently sexy which is counterbalanced by the soft dull background. Of course I would say that the main attraction or the emphasis in this picture is the naked woman and the “Birthday Boy” on the red sheet. That is the whole idea in this painting. The young companion (Birthday Boy) is so far back and his features are not as detailed as the woman. When examine in more detail we can see that the woman and the boy are actually touching each other; on his shoulder and on her leg. This portrays closeness and somewhat a feel of intimacy, which represents human emotions and also it, reminds me of seduction and also it reminds me of the movie THE GRADUATE by DUSTIN HOFFMAN which was about seducing. This picture is balanced in the sense that it looks natural. It is not rigid nor is it too harsh. Even from the expression on the faces of the woman and the young boy we can see that there is balance in this picture.
The room is lit by lights from outside and also inside the room. There are two lamps in the picture; one is on a table that is next to a red food tray. On the red tray is a newspaper with a glass of water, but there is a spoon in the glass, so it may contain some kind of alcohol or lemon. Next to the glass on the red tray is a pitcher of water. The lighting in the room seems to make the water have a yellow tint. The second lamp is located behind the young man’s head which it looks like a halo that means he is an innocent or it can say that the boy was curious about the whole action between him and her; the main colors that stand out are red, the contrast to the white and plainness of the room
As observed in the painting the open curtains allow some of the city lights to brighten up the room and the lamps on the table shine on certain corners to give the bright appearance of the room. Some forms can be found in this picture such as the room itself, the bed and some of the glassware on the desk. The space created in this picture seems to emphasize the bed area. The background is plain and simple such as the painting on the almost-empty wall with red, black, purple, orange colors on it and the blur view of the city through the glass window. The painter uses different shades to make the picture more realistic for example the sheet is red but it looks creased. He uses different shades of red to highlight the rising part and darker shades to make it seem like it is the lower part of the sheet. The texture of the red sheet is a bit more folded and creased. The skin of the two beings in the picture gives out a sense of warmth and of course skin like texture.
The movement of this particular piece is from the desk with the glassware, newspaper and table lamp to the main bed and then lastly I would have to say is the background which consists of the glass windows and the walls. This picture is drawn from the corner of the room and its proportion is just about right and real as compared to a real life situation. The things on the desk appear almost the same size as the woman in the picture because it is closer to the artist view. This picture possesses unity and balance. The choice of bold to dull plain colors even out the energy and the subtleness of the picture.
To conclude, this artist has a certain pattern or signature of that red sheet which actually symbolizes love and sex. What he feels is that these properties are connected and are dependent on one another; in other words, one cannot exist without the other. Overall this picture is beautiful, unique, daring, sexy and honest. The lights and open curtains made it feel really bold and just breaking the taboo. Its unconventional in a way at the same time it is not hard to imagine this in a real life situation. The elements and principles brought up in this painting are just perfectly balanced and adequate to send the message through to the audience. After all it is about sex and love
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