Eric Fischl, animal sculptures take center stage in The Ark at Powerhouse Arts
Published on 08/27/2026 at 15:59 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Eric Fischl steps into the curatorial role with the group exhibition The Ark at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn. As the exhibition text from Powerhouse Arts and Van Doren Waxter notes, the show runs from June 11 to August 30, 2026 and brings together around ninety animal sculptures and installations. Van Doren Waxter exhibition note
The Ark at Powerhouse Arts
The Ark is presented at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn and is composed entirely of animal sculptures and installations in diverse materials, curated by Eric Fischl together with Powerhouse Arts’s Eric Shiner. The exhibition text positions the Deluge myth as a narrative frame, using the ark metaphor to echo present-day environmental and social upheaval. Exhibition description
The works are installed in the round at often monumental scale, so visitors encounter the animal protagonists and interlocutors in close physical proximity. Instead of emphasizing crisis language alone, the curatorial concept privileges relationships and intimate encounters, foregrounding how care for vulnerable beings can stand in for wider ecological and social responsibilities.
Eric Fischl’s curatorial stance
For Fischl, working as curator rather than painter in The Ark extends his long-standing interest in charged figurative situations and moral ambiguity into an interspecies setting. The exhibition statement describes how the assembled menagerie bears witness to forces that threaten human and non-human existence, while channeling the instinctive tendency to protect and recognize the agency of animals. Curatorial statement
Against the backdrop of Fischl’s career-long engagement with the fallout of middle-class taboos and suburban anxieties, his role in The Ark can be read as widening the frame from domestic interiors and beaches to a planetary, allegorical stage. On balance, this curatorial project situates his practice within broader conversations around ecology and social responsibility without abandoning narrative tension.
More news and background on Eric Fischl
For additional reporting on Eric Fischl’s exhibitions, auction results and institutional projects, the AD HOC NEWS archive offers context on his market, museum presence and curatorial engagements.
The painting practice and narratives
Beyond curating, Fischl remains best known for his figurative paintings that probe the psychological tension of suburban and middle-class life. The Phoenix Art Museum survey Eric Fischl: Stories Told, on view from November 7, 2025 to June 14, 2026, gathered forty large-scale works from the late 1970s to the present, underscoring his commitment to narrative scenes where social taboos and anxieties remain unresolved. Southwest Contemporary review
In that exhibition, paintings such as Dining Room, Scene #2 and Scenes from Late Paradise: Stupidity were read as peeling back the façade of the American Dream, exposing family secrets, privileges and power dynamics. Working against the grain of late 1970s art discourse that favored conceptual and postminimal approaches, Fischl taught himself traditional figurative painting and continues to use it as a vehicle for moral and psychological complexity.
Position in collections and market
Fischl’s work is represented in a broad tier of public collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His own public collections listing also cites institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Dallas Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, indicating sustained institutional recognition across North America and Europe. Artist public collections list
On the auction side, market analysis compiled by Masterworks identifies The Old Man's Boat and the Old Man's Dog (1982) as Fischl’s top auction result to date, achieving 4,140,000 dollars at Christie’s New York on May 10, 2022, a low 7-figure price tier that anchors his secondary-market profile as of mid-2026. The report stresses that this high point reflects a concentrated band of strong sales rather than a wide field of repeated eight-figure results. Masterworks market overview
How the artist works
Eric Fischl primarily works in painting, especially oil and acrylic on canvas and linen, often supplemented by drawings, studies, photographs and sculptural experiments that feed into his compositions. His key work groups include suburban interiors and backyards, beach scenes, the Scenes from Late Paradise cycle and more recent paintings that fold political and cultural events into personal narratives.
Where the artist stands now
Eric Fischl’s curatorial project The Ark remains on view at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn through August 30, 2026, with his studio practice continuing in dialogue with ongoing museum attention and a concentrated but active auction market.
Eric Fischl in overview
- Artist: Eric Fischl
- Medium / Genre: Painting (figurative, narrative) and curatorial projects
- Born: 1948, New York City, United States
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice based in New York with long-term ties to Phoenix, Arizona
- Active since: Early 1970s, with formative work emerging in the late 1970s
- Key work groups: Scenes from Late Paradise, Stories Told, suburban interior paintings, beach and pool scenes
- Current/last exhibition: The Ark, Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, June 11, 2026 to August 30, 2026
- Major collections: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Dallas Museum of Art
- Awards: Documented recognition through major retrospectives and institutional support; specific prize listings are less foregrounded than exhibitions and collections in available public sources
- Next date: August 30, 2026, closing date of The Ark at Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn
Frequently asked questions about Eric Fischl
Where can Eric Fischl’s curatorial work currently be seen?
Eric Fischl’s curatorial project The Ark, a group exhibition of approximately ninety animal sculptures and installations, is on view at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn from June 11 to August 30, 2026.
What defines Eric Fischl’s painting practice?
Fischl is known for figurative paintings that depict suburban and middle-class settings in psychologically charged, often ambiguous scenes, a focus highlighted in the Phoenix Art Museum survey Eric Fischl: Stories Told covering works from the late 1970s through 2023.
Which museums hold major works by Eric Fischl?
His paintings appear in leading public collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Dallas Museum of Art, among other institutions.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
