PHOENIX (January 25, 2024) – Contemporary painter, sculptor, author and Phoenix College (PC) alumnus Eric Fischl will host the 2024 ERIC FISCHL SERIES on Wednesday, April 10, 2024 in partnership with Phoenix Art Museum (PAM), and Varitec Solutions. Held at the Phoenix Art Museum from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., the series includes a student art exhibition and reception in the Great Hall, followed by the Vanguard Awards Presentation and a conversation between Eric Fischl and guest artist Matthew Ritchie in Whiteman Hall.
About Matthew Ritchie
Born in London, England in 1964, Matthew Ritchie received a BFA from Camberwell School of Art, London, in 1986. He emigrated to the United States in 1987 and attended Boston University. Since the early 1990s, Ritchie has developed an installation and painting practice drawing from the vocabularies of science, sociology, anthropology, mythology and the history of art. He creates prints, floor-to-wall installations, light boxes, sculptures, projections, artists books, short stories, and performances, which tie his work together into a unique and recognizable gestural form that emphasizes the human trace.
In 2001, Time magazine listed Ritchie as one of 100 innovators for the new millennium, for exploring “the unthinkable or the not-yet-thought.” His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and collected by museums worldwide. He has worked extensively with writers, musicians, and dancers. In 2009, he wrote and directed the Long Count, a multi-media song cycle that premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music and collaborated on the opera Hypermusic with physicist Lisa Randall and composer Hector Parra, which premiered at the Center Pompidou, Paris, and travelled to the Barcelona Opera and The Guggenheim Museum. He lives and works in works in Brooklyn, New York with his partner and son.
The Event
Fischl and Ritchie will present the prestigious Vanguard Awards to Phoenix College students whose works are selected as “Best in Show” from pieces submitted to the annual Student Art Exhibition, which will be on display in Phoenix Art Museum’s Great Hall. Then, moving to Whiteman Hall, they will engage in a conversation about the artist’s visual art practice.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 / ERIC FISCHL SERIES
Phoenix Art Museum | 1625 N. Central Avenue | Phoenix | AZ | 85004
• 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. | Student Art Exhibition & Reception, Great Hall
• 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Vanguard Awards, PAM Whiteman Hall
• 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. | Matthew Ritchie & Eric Fischl Conversation, PAM Whiteman Hall
Tickets for the ERIC FISCHL SERIES are required and available via the Phoenix Art Museum.
About the Vanguard Awards
A hallmark of the ERIC FISCHL SERIES, the esteemed Vanguard Award was created by Eric Fischl in 2005 to recognize emerging student talent in the fine arts, make Phoenix College a center for the arts in downtown Phoenix, and create life-changing opportunities for students. The Vanguard Award is a $2,500 Best in Show Award, selected by Fischl and guest artist from among the work submitted for the Annual Student Art Exhibit. To-date, 66 students have been presented with the Vanguard Award.
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Media Contact: Christy Flora, Manager of Public Relations and Marketing, christina.flora@phoenixcollege.edu, 602-920-8458, phoenixcollege.edu