Although he was raised on Long Island and now lives in Sag Harbor, New York, Fischl has strong ties to Phoenix. His parents and siblings moved here in the late 1960s, and after a foray to San Francisco to \u201cbe a hippie,\u201d he says, he came to the area as well. He took his first art classes at Phoenix College (with the intent to \u201cmeet girls,\u201d he says), and sponsors an annual scholarship there. He also attended Arizona State University, but continued his education at the California Institute of the Arts.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill you step up to support New Times this year?<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Though his stay here was brief, Fischl says Phoenix had a \u201cdeep, deep impact\u201d on him and his work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of light that has a different color attached to it,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf there\u2019s such a thing that\u2019s a bright pastel, that\u2019s what I would describe it as. The visual language is something that informed me very early on.\u201d<\/p>\n Fischl mined the Valley for subject matter, too. On first glance, the images depict laid-back tableaus with backyards and swimming pools as a backdrop, but upon closer inspection, they reveal darker themes and dissatisfaction with post-World War II suburbia.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll see some paintings in the show that refer back to the feel of this place,\u201d Fischl says. \u201cThere\u2019s a painting called \u2018Barbeque\u2019 that is the best example of what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n Paying it forward to emerging artists<\/p>\n Heather Sealy Lineberry, curator emeritus at the Arizona State University Art Museum, guest-curated this exhibition, the first Fischl survey since 2018. She says she became familiar with his work when she was in graduate school and he had his first solo museum exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York City in 1986.<\/p>\n She got to know Fischl when he began sponsoring the Vanguard Awards at Phoenix College, a $2,500 stipend given annually to a student artist or artists since 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s had a tremendous impact on our community in terms of that philanthropic work supporting our local and young artists and emerging artists,\u201d Lineberry says.<\/p>\n The 20th anniversary of the prize, Lineberry says, was one reason it made sense to schedule an exhibit here and now.<\/p>\n The award is clearly a passion for Fischl, who explains that community college students are often misunderstood and don\u2019t always get support.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I could\u2019ve started where I started and gotten to where I\u2019ve gotten to, somebody else can as well,\u201d Fischl says. \u201cIt\u2019s to find and encourage people who are creative and who are looking for a community that they feel they belong to and can participate in.\u201d<\/p>\n Each year, he and a fellow artist or collector, who also gives a lecture, choose the student or students who will receive the prize. Their works are hung in the main gallery of the Phoenix Art Museum for the evening.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a visual \u2018a-ha!\u2019 moment for everybody,\u201d Fischl says. \u201cThe way people light up is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Past lecturers have included artists Andres Serrano, Kate Capshaw and Njideka Akunyili Crosby as well as collectors John McEnroe and Steve Martin.<\/p>\n Art as an \u2018existential struggle\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cEric Fischl: Stories Told\u201d is also timely, Lineberry said, because of the renaissance in figurative painting over the past 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important to look at Eric\u2019s work and look at his long career within that context,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Figurative painting wasn\u2019t the hot ticket when Fischl was finding his authentic voice as an artist, but abstract art didn\u2019t resonate with him. Instead, he reached back to before Modernism, which shed the figure and representation, to study Edgar Degas and \u00c9douard Manet. Over time, other artists who inspired him included Max Beckmann, Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins.<\/p>\n Luckily, by the late 1970s, the hegemony of abstract art was crumbling, and he found his work coinciding with a resurgence of interest in figurative painting. A 1978-79 show of 10 contemporary painters (which didn\u2019t include Fischl) at the Whitney titled \u201cNew Image Painting\u201d marked this shift, Lineberry recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment was perfect,\u201d Fischl says. \u201cThat\u2019s one of those things you don\u2019t have control over. It\u2019s called a zeitgeist.\u201d<\/p>\n He also hit a nerve with his examination of the nuclear family and suburban America \u2014 particularly the realization that not everything was as rosy as depicted.<\/p>\n In the 1970s and early \u201980s, these became fodder in other cultural arenas, such as books (see: John Updike) and film (\u201cThe Stepford Wives,\u201d \u201cSuburbia\u201d).<\/p>\n But, Fischl says, \u201cIn the art world, there was no genre for suburban art.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what was in his mind when he began bringing those feelings to the canvas, Fischl says, \u201cIt\u2019s not what\u2019s in my mind, it\u2019s what\u2019s in my heart. \u2026 It\u2019s not a simple failure of an idealism, it\u2019s an incredibly complicated existential struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds, \u201cThe drama of it is profound. The struggle of it is profound. It\u2019s not a simple parody or critique.\u201d<\/p>\n Fischl says that viewers should understand that \u201cthese are not paintings that have a conclusion. They are not presented as something that\u2019s resolved,\u201d but rather should be questioned and interpreted based on the viewer\u2019s own associations.<\/p>\n \u201cI bring the work to a visual interface with another person, and then they internalize it and walk away,\u201d Fischl adds.\u201dSo when people ask me questions \u2014 \u2018What does this mean?\u2019 \u2014 I\u2019m on their side, asking the same question: \u2018Who are these people and what do they want?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/by-Lori-Hawkins.jpg\")
Artist Eric Fischl.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2018.040_Skarstedt_Eric-FIschl_Island-of-the-Cyclops-The-Early-Years_2018.jpg\")
Eric Fischl, \u201cIsland of the Cyclops: The Early Years,\u201d 2018. Oil on linen. 80 x 98 in. Lenhardt Collection. <\/p>\n