Haircut

In the late 1970s and early 80s, Eric Fischl’s work helped reinvest the traditional medium of painting with contemporary relevance. Fischl became well known for psychologically intense paintings, in which extraordinary dreamlike scenes take place in suburban settings. Focusing on human relationships, Fischl depicts moments when something potentially disastrous or taboo is about to happen. In Haircut, the viewer becomes voyeur in a cinematic-like narrative. There are more questions than answers (is this a fantasy or a memory?), and the provocative power of the painting is in its ambiguity and endless psychological implications.