Vortic and Victoria Miro are delighted to announce an exhibition of new work by American artist Eric Fischl created as part of Vortic Artists Projects.
A programme of collaborations between the digital producer Vortic and a guest creator, Artists Projects reconsiders traditional modes of creation through technology. Each project is a unique collaboration – a standalone exploration and expansion of an individual’s practice. With access to state-of-the-art technology, from mixed reality to CGI and AI, participating artists are able to experiment in an alternate medium, creating new works entirely or re-envisioning existing motifs in a digital environment. Eric Fischl’s creative collaboration with Vortic began in 2022 and is the first time the artist has worked with virtual reality.
Bathers is Eric Fischl’s first exhibition at Victoria Miro Venice and brings together five large-scale, hand-painted bronze sculptures derived from virtual paintings: Woman with Green Hat; Lady with Red Hat; Three Women by Pool; Dancer; and Sudden Gust of Wind (all 2023–2024).
From the outset, Eric Fischl has been interested in the figure, the body, and the relationship of one body to another, all within the context of everyday life. To date, his focus remains on this representation through the investigation of new mediums and language. What began as virtual pictures created in the Google Tilt Brush app, featuring figurative motifs from Fischl’s celebrated beach scenes, have become bronze, wall-mounted sculptural paintings. Produced at Pangolin Editions in Gloucestershire, UK, and hand-painted by the artist, the resulting near life-size sculptures marry the vivid world of virtual reality painting with the enduring craftsmanship of bronze casting. Bridging the gap between the virtual and the physical, combining cutting-edge technologies and ancient techniques to produce works that previously would only have been viewable through digital platforms, this phenomenon parallels the creative process itself: an idea making its way from the intangible imagination through to a concrete reality.
‘Working backwards from the newest VR technology to the age-old process of bronze casting represents the journey these sculptures have taken. No question about it, we live in an age of technological wonder, and being able to bring together these two disparate technologies is irresistible to me as an artist. So much is bound up in those colourful brushstrokes trying to describe impressionistic scenes created by me in the non-existent space of virtual reality. The thrill for me comes from the absurd path these works have taken to become the sculptural reliefs that they are. It is certain that I would never have arrived at them in any other way.’ – Eric Fischl
About the artist
Eric Fischl is an internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor. Born in 1948 in New York City, 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.
Fischl’s paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints have been the subject of numerous solo and major group exhibitions and his work is represented in many museums, as well as 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, St. Louis Art Museum, Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark, Musée Beaubourg in Paris, The Paine Weber Collection, and many others. Eric Fischl is a Fellow at both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY with his wife, the painter April Gornik. Eric Fischl is represented by Skarstedt Gallery.
About Vortic
Vortic is the digital exhibition ecosystem for the art world, specifically designed for galleries, institutions and collectors. It enables an easy and accessible solution in the curation and sharing of exceptional art viewing experiences. By harnessing its 3D, AR and VR technology, Vortic creates new ways to interact with art – an immersive experience that brings exhibitions and artworks to you, wherever you may be. Vortic is available to view online at www.vortic.art, or to download for mobile and tablet devices. This is the second artist collaboration in Vortic Artists Projects series, which launched in February 2022 with the exhibition OPEN, by Doug Aitken.
The exhibition continues on Vortic until 29 June 2025 | www.vortic.art | Instagram and Facebook: @vortic.art