Arts & Entertainment
Sag Harbor Artist Eric Fischl Releases Memoir 'Bad Boy'
Fifth Avenue reception draws famed artists, filmmakers, actors and musicians.
Eric Fischl, a major SoHo artist of the 1980s who now lives Sag Harbor, recently celebrated the debut of his memoir, "Bad Boy: My Life On and Off the Canvas" at Mary Boone Gallery on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan's arts district.
Many celebrities and artists joined the celebration, including Steve Martin, E.L. Doctorow, Roger Waters and Fischl's wife, landscape painter April Gornik. The event was hosted by Mary Boone, who is Fischl's longtime art dealer, and Crown Publishing, which put out his book, co-authored by Michael Stone.
Gornik, Martin, Julian Schnabel, David Salle and other notables also contributed passages to the book.
"'Bad Boy' begins with Fischl’s tumultuous childhood, which later became the basis for much of his art," according to the publisher. It explores life with an alcoholic mother who committed suicide, and Fischl's own struggles with drugs and alcohol. He also sheds light on his rise as an artist — his works hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art — and his view of the art world today.
In addition to his book tour this summer, Fischl, a senior critic of the New York Academy of Art, is curating an exhibition of works by NYAA alumni for the Art Southampton international modern and contemporary at fair July 25 to 29.
