Fischl Bad Boy Painting

Eric fischl in bad boy. The book which takes its name from a celebrated 1981 painting of fischls that shows a boy facing a naked woman in a bedroom is unusual among the writings of artists in its novelistic drive and readability. His own dysfunctional childhood centered upon a mother who was desperately depressed and an alcoholic which became a large influence on his paintings.

Eric fischl clarice smith distinguished lecture series smithsonian american art museum duration.

Fischl bad boy painting. A penetrating often searing exploration of eric fischls coming of age as an artist and his search for a fresh narrative style in the highly charged and competitive new york art world in the 1970s and 1980s. Eric fischl 1948 new york joined the new yorks highly charged and competitiv art world in the 1970s and 1980s with such notorious and controversial paintings as bad boy and sleeper and reached the front ranks of america artists in a high octane downtown art scene that included andy warhol david salle julian schnabel and others. Bad boy oil on linen 66 by 96 inches 17 m 24 m by eric fischl. Smithsonian american art museum 11685 views.

My life on and off the canvas. The family members are widely dispersed within a dark room pierced in sections by harsh light that may come from an opening door. My life on and off the canvas. Among his most famous works is bad boy1981 depicting a youth gazing at an older naked woman splayed on a bed basking in striping window light.

In this oil painting fischl captures an unorthodox portrait of francesco clemente an artist friend and his family. In the 1970s and 80s eric fischl became neo expressionisms noted bad boy with his psychologically charged depictions of american suburbia. If you had a foot in the art world in the 1980s you know who eric fischl is. Just in case you didnt take a brief look at bad boy the canvas fischl describes as his most famous and notorious painting eric fischl bad boy 1981 oil on canvas 66 x 96 inches.

Folding painful family memories into accounts of the artists years in high school his experiences with girlfriends and teachers and the art scene he began encountering in new york in the late 1970s. Eric fischlis an american neo expressionist painter and sculptor best known for his figurative paintings and ambiguous sexually charged imagery. Bad boy was created by eric fischl in contemporary realism style. Fischl has embraced the description of himself as a painter of the suburbs not generally considered appropriate subject matter prior to his generation.

Citation neededsome of fischls earlier works have a theme of adolescent sexualityand voyeurism such as sleepwalker1979 which depicts an adolescent boy masturbating into a childrens pool. It was a world of fashion fame cocaine and alcohol that for a time threatened to undermine all that fischl had achieved.