In Bad Boy; renowned American artist Eric Fischl has written a penetrating; often searing exploration of his coming of age as an artist; and his search for a fresh narrative style in the highly charged and competitive New York art world in the 1970s and 1980s. With such notorious and controversial paintings as Bad Boy and Sleepwalker; Fischl joined the front ranks of America artists; in a high-octane downtown art scene that included Andy Warhol; David Salle; Julian Schnabel; and others. It was a world of fashion; fame; cocaine and alcohol that for a time threatened to undermine all that Fischl had achieved. In an extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir; Fischl discusses the impact of his dysfunctional family on his artmdash;his mother; an imaginative and tragic woman; was an alcoholic who ultimately took her own life. Following his years as a student at Cal Arts and teaching in Nova Scotia; he describes his early years in New York with the artist April Gornik; just as Wall Street money begins to encroach on the old gallery system and change the economics of the art world. Fischl rebelled against the conceptual and minimalist art that was in fashion at the time to paint compelling portraits of everyday people that captured the unspoken tensions in their lives. Still in his thirties; Eric became the subject of a major Vanity Fair interview; his canvases sold for as much as a million dollars; and The Whitney Museum mounted a major retrospective of his paintings. Bad Boy follows Fischlrsquo;s maturation both as an artist and sculptor; and his inevitable fall from grace as a new generation of artists takes center stage; and he is forced to grapple with his legacy and place among museums and collectors. Beautifully written; and as courageously revealing as his most provocative paintings; Bad Boy takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through the passion and politics of the art world as it has rarely been seen before.
#662453 in eBooks 2013-05-07 2013-05-07File Name: B00A5MREJI
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Louisiana Original ArtistBy Mary Bellis WilliamsClementine Hunter lived to over 100 and didnt even start painting until late middle age. She was an illiterate worker on a Louisiana plantation that had many visiting artists; and was given some old paints and started her long career. She painted on ironing boards; cardboard from refrigerator boxes; window shades; and everything else you can imagine. Sometimes she even painted on artists board or canvas. She was a primitive painter who showed a past way of life in the rural south; and she depicts the major events of such a life -- a baptismal procession of white-robed candidates coming down from a little country church to a pond to be ducked into the water in baptism; picking cotton; cooking; driving wagons. She had a wonderful sense of humor and did a lot of paintings of giant chickens; big as horses; pulling large carts full of giant vegetables. She has her very own perspective; and trees float in pink skies; and field workers are stacked; one scene above another. Wonderful work.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Amazing JourneyBy Gayle W.Ms. Clementine Hunter had an amazing journey. This was an excellent glimpse into her life as a woman and a self taught artist!!!1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Excellent biography of Clementine Hunters life and the people around ...By BuffyExcellent biography of Clementine Hunters life and the people around her who helped promote that artists work over her lifetime. The book also explores the different themes and series that Clementine would revisit often throughout her career. This is mainly a text biography of Hunter and not a picture art book. While there are a few small color plate sections; enough to give you an idea of what is being talked about; this is not a coffee table style picture book if thats what you are looking to buy. This is the most informative of the books on Hunters life and should be paired with Clementine Hunter American Folk Artist. Recommended for those wanting to learn more about Clementine Hunter.