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The triptych Jesse Fischer (1996) shows at Prospects consists of colourful scenes featuring young people who are carrying out a self-invented, pagan-inspired ritual in a park. The paintings on the left and right show how some of them travel to the meeting to perform the ritual. The middle canvas, The Dressing of a Great Beast (2025), depicts a moment from the actual ritual. A naked figure is positioned on the grass on his hands and knees. His body has been decorated with flowers. Small twigs, resembling antlers, are sticking out from beneath the sweatband that is serving as a blindfold. He is playing the role of the sacrificial animal, while the rest of the group are standing around him in a state of excitement. One of them is carrying a whip. Where does this tension lead to?
Fischer observed how many people from his generation are searching for new religious experiences. Usually raised in an atheist environment, they do not feel the need to join a traditional religion. And yet, according to the artist, they are still looking for a connection with the spiritual and the holy. The young people in his paintings do this in a playful, almost childlike way. At the same time there is a certain degree of harshness: they are testing the boundaries of eroticism, sensuality, and danger.
Fischer’s style of painting is intuitively narrative. His figurative canvases seem to be telling a story. However, these stories evolve during the process of painting and are never clearly defined beforehand. And although the paintings are full of symbolism, they always remain open to a wide range of interpretations and associations.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)