Eric Fischl

Eric Fischl is an internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor. Fischl grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his art education at Phoenix College and earned his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972. In 1974, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to teach painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Fischl had his first solo show, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson, at Dalhousie Art Gallery in Nova Scotia in 1975 before relocating to New York City in 1978. The suburban upbringing provided Fischl with a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content. His early work thus became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said. His first New York City solo show was at Edward Thorp Gallery in 1979, during a time when suburbia was not considered a legitimate genre for art. He first received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life.