Eric Fischl, the painter

Erik Fischl is a painter from the Neo-figurative school who approaches subjects like love, sexuality, and American life with a sometimes vulgar honest in his work. During the reign of more abstract art, Fischl returned the focus of art to the human body and daily life. This is comparable to the Confessional school of poetry in that it focuses on more intimate aspects of human life (from the shocking and dysfunctional to the bland and mundane). Nothing is held back in Fischl's art, evoking a strong response from whoever is viewing his paintings.
In "Love," the first thing my eye focuses on is the woman in the bathing suit about to eat the burger or hotdog or whatever it is. Behind her is a man, embracing her, and directly in front of her is another man swigging a beer. They're watching a wedding on the beach, drinking and eating from a table with a large wedding cake.
"Love" is a strange painting. Why are these people in swimsuits? Are they part of the wedding ceremony or are they just crashing it? This seems to be what they are doing, since they are very detached from the wedding proceedings happening below. The background wedding is painted in bright colors, with mustard-yellow sand and a vibrant blue sea with skimming sailboats. The people in the forefront, however, are painted in mostly darker, gray-ish blue tones. Their skin is contrastingly darker than the pale-skinned people in the wedding; viewing this painting, I get the feeling that the bride and groom have travelled to a beach paradise to have their ideal wedding and the natives are crashing it, eating their food while everyone else concentrates on the ceremony.
Like confessional poetry, this painting could be depicted in many ways. There is no way to tell for sure what Fischl is trying to say, but it is clear that he's not holding back any information. In "Love," it feels as if Fischl is trying to accurately portay a feeling or opinion, but at the same time he is also stepping back and letting the viewer decide for themselves what he means. In many confessional poems, this same technique is used, which makes them relevant because of the debate they inspire in the literary world. This discussion is part of the reason works of art and poems remain in focus today, years after they were created or composed.