"Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting" at San Jose Museum of Art
through May 12, 2013
Throughout the show, I kept thinking "is Eric Fischl the most generous artist ever?" I thought that because of how he shared his process of using photography, maquettes, actors, and Photoshop to create his paintings. Next to a finished painting, there was a collage of photographs that were considered for the final piece. He photoshopped the placement of people and objects for the final arrangement. There are many painters out there that would either never admit to using photographs or would admit to it grudgingly. The problem with using photography is that a certain freshness and immediacy can be lost if relied to heavily on a flat image. Eric Fischl doesn't have this problem.
This has a charcoal feel - a disturbing scene of a naked boy/girl being slapped by an adult. There are broken items on the floor, a birthday cake on the table and two people being aggressive to each other. You can come up with all sorts of narratives to go along with this.
This painting had a light touch with the brushstrokes freely moving. It is also the most out of all the paintings in this exhibition like a photograph.
He shared with us his interest in photographing the nude sunbathers at St. Tropez because he felt that the nudes were different and had a "social body language" opposed to art school posed models.
I learned that Fischl was also a sculptor. He created 3D pieces from his 2D images and would use the final sculpted pieces for a painting. In the video accompanying the show, he is shown with bronze pieces he created from images in a book, and then would create a large watercolor painting based on his statues. He also assembled clay maquettes, photographed them and used these photographs as a basis for sketches that became studies for paintings.
through May 12, 2013
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| Scenes from Late Paradise: Stupidity 2006-7 |
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| The Birthday Party 1980 oil on glassine |
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| Woman Surrounded by Dogs 1979-80 |
This painting had a light touch with the brushstrokes freely moving. It is also the most out of all the paintings in this exhibition like a photograph.
He shared with us his interest in photographing the nude sunbathers at St. Tropez because he felt that the nudes were different and had a "social body language" opposed to art school posed models.
I learned that Fischl was also a sculptor. He created 3D pieces from his 2D images and would use the final sculpted pieces for a painting. In the video accompanying the show, he is shown with bronze pieces he created from images in a book, and then would create a large watercolor painting based on his statues. He also assembled clay maquettes, photographed them and used these photographs as a basis for sketches that became studies for paintings.
I think he must have a good sense of humor, at least he shows some humility in "Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man" 1984.
It's quite a large painting and the colors are beautiful. I particularly like the color of the shadows- nothing fancy, no outlandish complementary colors used.
One of my favorite pieces:
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| The Prices 2008 |
I found it to be very provocative and generated within me so many questions like why this strange composition? And why insert that strange shadow? Is it a shrouded figure? The perspective seems skewed when you compare the figure in the foreground to the figures in the back. And then there is the narrative that gets the mind going. When I see a narrative painting that keeps me engaged, I would say it was a successful painting. What was particularly wonderful about this exhibition was that Fischl shows us his source photographs. And, with many of the close up of faces (humans or dogs), I find the rendering to be grotesque so again, one wonders why he painted them in such a rough way. All his choices are definitely careful and deliberate.
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| Krefeld Project Living Room Scene #4 2002 |
Again, a painting that gets the mind going: what is the relationship between the woman and the man? Are they having an affair? Are they tired of each other? Are they existing in the same time? I loved the way the male figure in the back is painted - the paint is soft, flat, brilliant. She on the other hand, has that grotesque-ness - a hard, not particularly becoming rendering. In this series titled "Krefeld Project", Fischl hired 2 actors to move about in this Mies van der Rohe modern home. He took thousands of images and the result is this series.
This is one of those shows that gets me thinking more about my own work. I used clay maquettes to create my "Raft of the Medusa Trees" paintings and photographed them to create my painting. I need to return to that especially with my "Washington Crossing the Delaware Trees" for the art commission. His looseness when he does his watercolors is misleading because he makes it look so easy. However, I want to achieve that sort of looseness and will try to do so with my portraits as a way of practicing and warming up. I now have a decent camera in which to shoot better source photographs - let that be my 2013 resolution.
His analysis of the John Singer Sargent painting "An Interior in Venice" is not to be missed.
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| An Interior in Venice 1898 John Singer Sargent |
Is Eric Fischl the most generous artist of our time? I must say, so far, yes.
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| Eric Fischl |
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