Having grown up against a backdrop of alcoholism and a country-club culture obsessed with image over content, artist Eric Fischl focuses on the rift between experience and expression. His landmark portfolio Year of the Drowned Dog consists of two three-part components. When combined, they operate as a pictorial game.

The first component is a triptych of a beach panorama, and the second consists of three separate smaller sheets (mother and child, three sailors, walking man) that overlap the panorama. These irregular-shaped segments transform a tranquil Caribbean beach scene into a complex narrative. The mother and child observe the boy and the dog of the title; the other figures do not interact with each other. Each of the sheets’ varying times of day, as evidenced by the figures’ shadows, underscores the independent, nonlinear development of the imagery. Year of the Drowned Dog was Fischl’s first attempt at a complex, multi-component project of etchings. It marks a shift in subject matter as he began to explore the negative impact of American tourism on idyllic beaches of islands that had recently been developed by the resort industry.

- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (online)