ERIC FISCHL
Complications from an Already Unfulfilled Life at Sprueth Magers (Los Angeles) through July 27th, 2019
Eric Fischl first made a splash over 40 years ago with paintings of teenage boys pissing in swimming pools and exploring their blossoming sexuality. Since then he’s been known as a “bad boy painter,” but I think his work is more subtle and nuanced than he gets credit for.
Fischl’s primary concern is human anatomy. Everything else exists as a background.
Fischl wields his brush like the hands of a masseuse, sculpting flesh and bone with paint. You may catch yourself retracing the intimate movements of the artist’s hand and eyes, becoming complicit in an act of voyeuristic observation.
His figures and his paintings rest comfortably in their own skin. They worked hard to get this way and don’t fault you for staring. His technique echoes the character of figures it depicts: bare, unadorned, immodest.
Brush strokes are as practiced as reps of squats at the gym, or laps in the pool.
These paintings have good cardio.