Artist Eric Fischl was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up in the Long Island suburbs. His paintings first received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. In 1972 he received a B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts.

In February 2012, Fischl spoke to the Institute about his work, and about his project “America: Now and Here,” a traveling multi-disciplinary exhibition designed to encourage a national dialogue about America through art. The project began when Fischl invited a group of visual artists, musicians, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers to submit a work of art reflecting their points of view on, and hopes for, America. The idea grew out of his conviction that the country had grown more polarized in the years after 9/11, and was in danger of losing a sense of its place and direction in the world. The truck-based roving museum and performance space launched on May 5th, 2011 in Kansas City, before traveling to Detroit and Chicago.

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