Also in the Weekly this week, my editor’s choice about Eric Fischl‘s lecture at Penn, the fourth lecture of the Locks Distinguished Artist’s Series, which, previous years brought in Alex Katz, Chuck Close and Robert Hughes (to speak on Goya). Here’s the link to the editor’s choice page and below is the copy.
Bedroom Scene No. 6 (Surviving the Fall Meant Using You for Handholds)
Eric Fischl‘s large film noir-ish figure paintings are tinged with sexual innuendo, game playing and anomy. The New York painter of nude and partially clad men and women cavorting in generic five-star settings will speak about painting in the Fourth Annual Locks Distinguished Artist Lecture Series at the University of Pennsylvania. His talk “The Death of Painting From Van Gogh to Chris Burden” should be interesting, coming from an artist who’s a highly successful painter. There’s much interest in figure painting and portraiture these days, and Fischl’s boudoir soap opera aesthetic is appealing particularly to young artists for its implied narrative content and its mirroring of a world in which surveillance cameras follow your every move. Fischl’s appearance makes a good point of comparison with another figure painter, Andrew Wyeth, now being celebrated at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But the Locks Lecture Series—which has brought Alex Katz, Robert Hughes and Chuck Close in other years—should think about casting a wider net for their lectures. Surely there are distinguished women artists and distinguished artists of color to include.
Tickets for the event are free but you must call or email to get them ahead of time and seating is limited. This year’s event will be in a small hall, not the big auditorium at the Annenberg Center.
Eric Fischl: “The Death of Painting From Van Gogh to Chris Burden”
Tues., April 11, 6pm. Free, tickets required. Harold Prince Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St. 215.898.3900.
