Event KiS - Eric Fischl "Anchored in Transience"

KiS – Art in Seefeld shows an excerpt from Eric Fischl's works in its winter exhibition from December 11, 2026 to March 14, 2027. Eric Fischl (born 1948 in New York City) is one of the significant figurative painters of his generation. Growing up in the suburbs of Long Island, he makes American everyday life the subject of his art. Behind seemingly ordinary scenes, tensions, personal abysses, and unspoken conflicts become visible. His works explore the gap between social facade and private reality and are represented in major museums worldwide.

Description

The suburbs of Long Island form the starting point for Eric Fischl's painting. His works depict everyday scenes and situations and deal with the tension between the visible and what lies behind it. Fischl addresses social relationships, personal experiences, and the contradictions of American life. 

Eric Fischl is an internationally recognized American painter and sculptor. His works are represented in many renowned museums worldwide and have been featured in over a thousand publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Fischl was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his artistic training in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Phoenix College and earned his B.F.A. in 1972 from the California Institute for the Arts. 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 exhibition, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson, in 1975 at the Dalhousie Art Gallery in Nova Scotia before moving to New York City in 1978.

Fischl's upbringing in the suburbs provided him with a background of alcoholism and a country-club culture that was more focused on image than content. His early works therefore concentrated on the gap between what was experienced and what could not be spoken of. His first solo exhibition in New York City took place in 1979 at the Edward Thorp Gallery, at a time when the suburb was not yet considered a legitimate genre for art. He first captured the attention of critics by portraying the dark, unsettling undercurrents of mainstream American life.

Fischl's paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints have been the subject of numerous solo and significant group exhibitions, and his works are represented in many museums as well as in prestigious private and corporate collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark, the Musée Beaubourg in Paris, the Paine-Weber Collection, and many others. Fischl has collaborated with other artists and authors, including E. L. Doctorow, Allen Ginsberg, Jamaica Kincaid, Jerry Saltz, and Frederic Tuten.

Eric Fischl - "Anchored in Ephemerality"  at KiS – Kunst in Seefeld, Alte Feuerwehrhalle, Münchner Straße 271, 6100 Seefeld; 12.11.2026 - 14.03.2027; every Fri–Sun, 15:00 - 17:00; free admission; www.kunstinseefeld.at, office@kunstinseefeld.at, Follow us: facebook, Instagram.

Changing exhibitions with contemporary art at international level twice a year. Thanks to former gallery owner and art collector Rafael Jablonka, who lives in Seefeld, this has been possible since mid-2021. Additionally, the association KiS for the promotion of contemporary art in Seefeld, founded in 2022, ensures an interesting cultural program throughout the year. With concerts, readings, artist talks, and special projects for children and young people. Elisabeth Gürtler from the Alpin Resort Sacher is chairwoman of the association, supported on the board by Innsbruck gallery owner Clemens Rhomberg and entrepreneur Christian Jäger from Seefeld. Anyone can become a member.