{"id":14,"date":"2025-01-30T20:19:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T20:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2025-03-07T20:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T20:54:08","slug":"environmental-horror","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/environmental-horror\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Horror"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Untitled,<\/a>
Untitled, from Oil Can series, 1979. Polaroid print.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In 1972, Fichter returned to his home state to take a teaching position at Florida State University, where he remained until his retirement in 2006. Having grown up during a time of unparalleled real estate expansion in Florida, he was troubled by the effects of overdevelopment on the natural environment. Fichter\u2019s anxieties about his personal impact on pollution even led him to give up photography for a time because the chemical waste produced by the medium \u201cseemed ecologically incorrect.\u201d Instead, he turned to painting in a Neo-expressionistic style influenced by the dark social commentary of Spanish Romantic painter Francisco Goya and British Satirist William Hogarth.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"War<\/a>
War without End (1981)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Fichter\u2019s horror surrounding ecological devastation is expressed frequently in his work, where the landscape is variously represented in a state of primordial abundance, dappled by disease, or as a post-nuclear desert. Oil cans figure prominently as symbols of pollution, and taxidermy animals are reanimated as macabre harbingers of an apocalyptic future. Fichter\u2019s wary view of humankind\u2019s custodianship of the planet is a call to action especially fitting for the age of the Anthropocene, a term used to describe the current geological epoch in which human activity holds the dominant impact on Earth\u2019s environment and climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Peace<\/a>
Peace in the Kingdom (1975)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The Machine in the Garden (1976)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Then\u00a0(ca.<\/a>
Then (ca. 1976)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Now\u00a0(ca.<\/a>
Now (ca. 1976)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Erotic<\/a>
Erotic Landscape with Fighter (1976)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Landscape<\/a>
Landscape with Two Flamingos (1978)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The Photographer in the Post-Industrial Landscape (1976)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Untitled,<\/a>
Untitled, from Oil Can series, 1979. Polaroid print.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Untitled,<\/a>
Untitled, from Oil Can series (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Untitled,<\/a>
Untitled, from Oil Can series (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Florida<\/a>
Florida Landscape, from Oil Can series (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The Working Man’s Friend, from Oil Can series (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Untitled,<\/a>
Untitled, from Oil Can series (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Progress\u00a0(1979)\"<\/a>
Progress (1979)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lake<\/a>
Lake Jackson Blue (ca. 1980)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Seascape\u00a0(ca.<\/a>
Seascape (ca. 1980)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Trees<\/a>
Trees in Swamp (ca. 1980)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pine<\/a>
Pine Trees (ca. 1980)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dead<\/a>
Dead Trees (ca. 1980)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"War<\/a>
War without End (1981)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Henry\u2019s<\/a>
Henry\u2019s Theory of the Greater Fool (1982)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Distress<\/a>
Distress Signal (ca. 1982)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1972, Fichter returned to his home state to take a teaching position at Florida State University, where he remained until his retirement in 2006. Having grown up during a time of unparalleled real estate expansion in Florida, he was troubled by the effects of overdevelopment on the natural environment. Fichter\u2019s anxieties about his personal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/fichter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}