exactly

Yesterday in the New York Times Ken Johnson said this of Eric Fischl's new paintings at Mary Boone which I commented on below(maybe it was even that last time I posted, I never claimed to anything more than a lazy blogger).
"...What seems more urgent for Mr. Fischl is his desire to be taken seriously as a painter. He does paint with John Singer Sargentesque facility." (for a transcript of this review go here).

Now, I do not disagree with the first part of this statement it has been evident in his paintings since the beginning of his career. This is something that anyone can pick up on, if you really look at those early paintings in all of their awkwardness they are striving for something more, to be bigger and better. His desire is actually manifest right there on canvas. Now some would just say they are badly painted and that's ok with me until you get to his later paintings in which his facility seems to "improve", clearly he has stuck with it and what is driving this persistence? Desire, whether it is to improve, to continue out of love for painting or to be taken seriously as a painter does not even matter. After all it is not like he needs to worry about his career, selling paintings or being written in to the history books, he was chosen early on in his career and all of that has been taken care of. Yet he has continued to fail in public, attempting to be a better painter and while he has improved I think it is laughable to compare him to Sargent.

What is worse the Hot Shit Painter who can't paint or the Art Critic who does not look?

You do not need a Master's degree in Art History to see that Fischl does not hold a candle to Sargent. Rendering a variety of fabric, space, skin tones, emotions, and moods effortlessly, virtuosically John Singer Sargent raised the bar for representational painting. He created captivating pictures that elicit an instant physiological and emotional response. In short he created amazing paintings. This is a bar that Fischl will never clear, however I admire his persistence and if the art world did not lavish him with undue praise I would respect this pursuit even more.