Outsider Los Angeles artist Llyn Foulkes emerged to great fanfare in the 1960s, only to fly below the radar for most of the ensuing decades. For One Man Band, Tamar Halpern and Chris Quilty spent seven years filming the amusingly cantankerous artist. While Foulkes provides most of the music and commentary, the directors also speak with gallerists, art critics, and the late actor and art collector Dennis Hopper, who describes Foulkes as a "model of the future," a reference to his 1964 photo of Foulkes, The Model. Foulkes showed his work at the same galleries as art stars such as Ed Ruscha during his early days, but didn't feel like he fit in, mainly because he always spoke his mind and didn't belong to a particular school. Critics describe his work as macabre, since he produced a "bloody head" series and has used animal carcasses (like possums) in his assemblages. In this film, Foulkes is seen working on two three-dimensional pieces, The Lost Frontier and The Awakening (one took eight years to complete, the other 18). As Foulkes puts it, "My process is make and destroy and make again." He also plays music—sounding like Tom Waits crossed with Spike Jones—by way of the Machine, a drum-kit-like contraption consisting of dozens of instruments soldered together (Foulkes once even appeared on The Tonight Show to play the device). Throughout, Foulkes kvetches about his lack of recognition, but by the end he's landed on the cover of Art in America, and things appear to be looking up. An engaging portrait of an offbeat artist, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
Llyn Foulkes: One Man Band
(2013) 88 min. DVD: $29.95. Kino Lorber (avail. from most distributors). Closed captioned. Volume 32, Issue 2
Llyn Foulkes: One Man Band
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