Eric Fischl

(USA) *1948 in New York

After studying painting at the California Institute of Arts, Fischl taught painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Canada from 1974 to 1978. Above all, Fischl is famous for his emotionally charged paintings. The visible psychological state of his figures often suggests a significant recent or upcoming event. As source, Fischl frequently uses his own photos. Concerned with the naturalistic depiction of the body, his central theme, he was led to 19th-century painting and the sculptures of Rodin, pursuing their carnal and muscular corporeality in his sculptural work. As opposed to painting, Fischl describes the procedure of sculpting as an essentially physical, tactile process: “In painting your hand follows your eye, and in sculpture your eye follows your hand.” In 1998, his sculptures were for the first time presented in a one-man exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery (New York).