Mar, 04, 2026
Media AlertsSpecial Events and Programs
Phoenix Art Museum partners with Phoenix College to host 2026 Eric Fischl Series featuring Marilyn Minter; Exclusive screening of PRETTY DIRTY: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter
The evening includes an exhibition of artwork by Phoenix College students, the Vanguard Awards presentation, and a conversation between Fischl and special guest Marilyn Minter
PHOENIX (March 4, 2026) – This spring, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) hosts the 2026 Eric Fischl Series in partnership with Phoenix College (PC) celebrating 21 years of the Eric Fischl Lecture Series. The 2026 lecture features Eric Fischl—the event’s namesake—in conversation with contemporary artist Marilyn Minter. Known for her distinguished hyper-realistic style, Minter explores themes of beauty and desire through compositions that offer a close-up, visceral view of the body. Join us for a dynamic conversation between the two artists as they discuss Minter’s studio practice, her evolution as an artist, and the boundaries of contemporary art. The 2026 Eric Fischl series will be hosted on Wednesday, April 8, 2025 from 5 – 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for the public and free for Museum Members and are available here. Tickets are free for Phoenix College students with an active ID.
“As we mark the program’s 21st anniversary, Phoenix Art Museum, in partnership with Phoenix College, is proud to spotlight this year’s featured artist, Marilyn Minter, in conversation with Eric Fischl,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Minter has transformed the language of contemporary art through work that is fearless, visually electric and deeply attuned to how images shape power, desire and identity. We’re honored to welcome her for an evening that places her ideas at the center of the conversation and offer a rare opportunity for visitors to engage directly with an artist whose work continues to shape how we see and talk about images.”
Each year, the Eric Fischl series hosted by Phoenix College and held at Phoenix Art Museum draws students, artists, and community members for engaging conversations about art. The 2026 Eric Fischl guest artist is New-York based American visual artist Marilyn Minter. Known as one of the most provocative and influential contemporary artists of our time, Minter is recognized for her raw, hyperreal explorations of beauty, power, and desire across a variety of mediums.
Working across painting, photography and video, she challenges conventional aesthetics by fusing glamour with grit and seduction with subversion. Drawing from fashion, advertising, pornography and art history, Minter’s work examines how pleasure, femininity and consumer culture collide. Her signature style—lush, high-gloss surfaces layered with sweat, glitter and condensation—blurs the boundaries between attraction and repulsion, reality and fantasy. Since the 1970s, Minter has been a fearless disruptor, using her art to critique the idealized images promoted by mass media and the ways women’s bodies are consumed. From her early “bush paintings” to billboard interventions and video works, she continually pushes against cultural taboos surrounding sexuality, feminism and representation. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Her 2016 retrospective, Pretty/Dirty, cemented her legacy as a pioneering artist who amplifies what others shy away from.
The event on April 8 will begin with an exhibition of artwork by Phoenix College students on view in the Museum’s Cummings Great Hall South. As part of the 2026 Eric Fischl Series, Fischl will also present the prestigious Vanguard Awards to students whose works are selected as “Best in Show” from pieces submitted to the annual exhibition. Fischl created the Vanguard Award in 2005 to recognize emerging student talent in the fine arts, establish Phoenix College as a center for the arts in downtown Phoenix, and create life-changing opportunities for students. Recipients of the award receive $2,500. To date, the Vanguard Award has been presented to 69 students, including some who have received the award more than once. The evening will close with an engaging conversation between Fischl and Minter in Whiteman Hall.
In addition to the annual Eric Fischl Series, PhxArt will be showing an exclusive film screening of PRETTY DIRTY: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter on April 7. Directed by Jennifer Ash Rudick and Amanda Benchley, this unfiltered exposé strips away the glittering facade of one of the art world’s most provocative icons. PRETTY DIRTY traces Minter’s improbable journey from a Southern childhood and New York’s raw underground to today’s billion-dollar art market. Known for transforming forbidden subjects—sex, shame, and aging—into hypnotic, larger-than-life masterpieces, Minter blurs the lines between glamour and grit. As she nears 80, she remains an “unapologetic provocateuse,” creating massive paintings of cultural icons like Lizzo, Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, and Monica Lewinsky. Featuring rare archival footage and powerful testimonies from art world luminaries and pop culture figures including Glenn Ligon and Padma Lakshmi, the film asks a lingering question: Will the art establishment finally embrace an artist who dares to think differently? The film will be followed by a special 20-minute Q&A with the artist herself, Marilyn Minter, moderated by one of the film’s producers, Debi Wisch, (The Art of Making It, The Price of Everything) as they discuss the making of the documentary and Minter’s lifelong pursuit of an authentic, fearless aesthetic. The screening of Pretty Dirty: The Life and Times of Marilyn Minter will be hosted on Tuesday, April 7, 2025 at 6 pm with the Q&A at 7:30pm. Tickets are $8 for the public and free for Museum Members and are available here.
For more information contact the Communications Office at press@phxart.org or kaylee.weyrauch@phxart.org.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
About Eric Fischl
Born in New York City in 1948, Eric Fischl grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his art education in Phoenix and attended Phoenix College, later earning his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972. After spending time in Chicago, where he worked as a guard at the Museum of Contemporary Art, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to teach painting at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Fischl had his first solo exhibition there before relocating to New York City in 1978. Fischl’s suburban upbringing provided him with a backdrop of alcoholism and a country club culture obsessed with image over content. His early work thus became focused on the rift between what was experienced and what could not be said. His first New York City solo exhibition was at Edward Thorp Gallery in 1979, during a time when suburbia was not considered a legitimate genre for art. He received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. An internationally acclaimed American painter and sculptor, Fischl’s artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in over 1,000 publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He is a Fellow at both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, NY, with his wife, the painter April Gornik.
About Marilyn Minter
Marilyn Minter (b. 1948, U.S.) is one of the most influential contemporary artists of her generation, known for her unflinching, hyperreal examinations of beauty, power and desire. Working across painting, photography and video, she challenges conventional aesthetics by fusing glamour with grit and seduction with subversion. Drawing from fashion, advertising, pornography and art history, Minter’s work explores the intersections of pleasure, femininity and consumer culture. Her signature style—lush, high-gloss surfaces layered with sweat, glitter and condensation—collapses the boundaries between attraction and repulsion, reality and fantasy. Since the 1970s, Minter has consistently used her practice to interrogate the idealized images produced by mass media. From her early “bush paintings” to large-scale billboard projects and video works, she confronts cultural taboos surrounding sexuality, gender and feminism. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. Her 2016 retrospective, Pretty/Dirty, further established her as a pioneering artist whose work brings visibility to subjects often pushed to the margins.
About Phoenix College
Founded in 1920, Phoenix College is the flagship institution of the Maricopa County Community College District, one of the largest community college systems in the nation. Serving more than 17,000 students each year, the college offers over 200 degree and certificate programs, including associate degrees, university transfer pathways, workforce training, and select bachelor’s degrees aligned with Arizona’s evolving workforce needs. Committed to access, academic excellence, and student success, Phoenix College helps students build skills, advance their careers, and create better futures for themselves and their families.
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