Duck (Ode to Julian Schnabel)

Eric Fischl captures an intimate moment and peaks our curiosity in Duck (Ode to Julien Schnabel), 1987. With characteristic insight and candor, he explores the psychological disposition of his subject, and invites the viewer to interpret the scene. We glimpse a young woman, naked in the privacy of her bedroom. Pensive and focused on something in her hands, she does not acknowledge us, making us voyeurs. The scene appears banal at first, and then curious. What is she doing? What does her mysterious body language suggest? The Donald Duck figure surely signifies her childhood, a subject of great interest to Fischl. But it is an ambiguous reference, and on second glance the figure of Donald Duck seems somewhat menacing, lurking in the dark brooding blue. Fischl activates his surface with expressionistic bravura, and a raking light illuminates the woman. In contrast, Donald Duck stands against an obscured dark ground which perhaps indicates he is more in the young woman's mind than in her presence.

The scene is emotionally charged, provocatively composed, and defined by Fischl's adroit manipulation of mystery and contradiction.