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SKARSTEDT IS PLEASED TO INTRODUCE ERIC FISCHL'S AMERICAN HULA,
A RECENT PAINTING INSPIRED BY FRANCISCO GOYA'S THE COLOSSUS.
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A singular figure, her back turned in the act of rotating momentum, appears alone in an abstract field of blue sky. Dwarfing the trees below, her colossal scale is unrivaled. The hula hoop, popularized in America during the artist’s youth, cuts horizontally across the center of the painting, suspended in action. Where Goya encircles his giant with clouds, Fischl suspends the red hula hoop. In describing the painting, Fischl remarks, “The thud of her gait and the slow rotation of her hoop and hips feels ominous and perplexing. How could someone playing like a child while moving across our land be dangerous?”
Fischl’s giant dominates the canvas with the same vigorous energy as her art historical counterpart, The Colossus. Though the attribution to Goya has been reconsidered, The Colossus is an undisputed Romantic masterwork housed in the Museo del Prado. Painted in 1808-1812 during the peak of the Peninsular War, The Colossus is regarded as symbolic of that conflict – the villagers flee from the oncoming Napoleonic Invasion as the giant aims to protect them from the attack. His pose, arm up and fist clenched, prepares him – yet with his eyes closed, how might he see the oncoming threat? Derived from a poem written by Juan Bautista Arriaza, called “Pyrenean Prophecy,” The Colossus signified not only protection, but also the collective consciousness of the Spanish people.
This notion of unified identity is not unfamiliar to Fischl, whose finger remains on the pulse socially and politically, connecting to our present collective consciousness. Playing upon the dichotomy of this masculinized giantess, Fischl is deliberate in his choice – considering women’s historically nurturing symbolism colliding with this colossal figure, who can be easily interpreted as a menacing and potentially destructive force. At this time when we are most vulnerable, Fischl notes, “The feminine is often the way we refer to our country, our homeland: Mother country. The time we are living in has been a time in which male authority (especially white male authority) has been pushing back hard against the change they cannot accept nor cannot stop.”
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Eric Fischl
American Hula, 2020
acrylic and oil on canvas
75 x 64 inches
190.5 x 162.56 cm
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“I wanted her to be more playful, more lively in spirit, simpler, but what I couldn’t explain to myself was why an image of something that is supposed to be playful feels quite the opposite. In fact her presence feels more than imposing, it feels ominous."
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Attributed to Francisco Goya, The Colossus, 1808-1812
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“IT’S NOT OFTEN THAT I HEAR SOUND IN MY PAINTING, BUT THIS PAINTING IS FULL OF SOUND.
IT’S A HEAVY PLODDING RHYTHM OF MOTION WITH A SLOW RESONANT WHIR." -
Read More...About Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl was born in New York in 1948. He graduated from the California Institute of Arts in Valencia, in 1972, and was a teacher between 1974 and 1978 at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. Fischl works in multiple media such as painting, sculpture and prints, and is mostly known for his large scale, naturalistic images of middle-class American life. His suburban upbringing provided him with a backdrop of alcoholism and a culture obsessed with image over content. Subsequently, his early work became focused on provocative yet truthful issues deemed repugnant by polite society. The powerful underlying sexuality in his works, often portray intimate moments that the viewer is helplessly made privy of and address the dark and disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. Fischl’s large human-scale figures only emphasize the voyeuristic feeling of his images, and imbue them with a psychological, almost dream-like intensity. His earlier paintings are highly reminiscent of the Photorealism works of the 1960s, and during the 1980s his style expanded to fragmented images split into separate panels, which he used for paintings and etchings.
Photo: Ralph Gibson
Eric Fischl: American Hula
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