Filmmaker Sandra Adair's documentary profiles a rising modern artist, centering on his inner life, emotional pain, and therapeutic creative processes. Austin-based Lance Letscher hailed from a dysfunctional family background (a frustrated-artist mother, a father with undiagnosed mental disorders) and went on to earn his MFA from the University of Texas. Letscher evolved from printmaking to creating intricate collages that incorporated discarded old children's books, toys, product wrappers, and shards of metal containers. Letscher can engulf motorcycles, shoes, guns—even an entire glider-plane—with layers of material. The art shown here is decoded along autobiographical lines, matched to Letscher's narrative of his happy second marriage (when he began to work in color) and his father's shocking demise on the eve of Letscher marking a career milestone. Featuring interviews with gallery owners, this portrait of a soft-spoken striving artist who is working to overcome a painful history is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)
The Secret Life of Lance Letscher
(2017) 95 min. DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $24.95. FilmRise (avail. from www.amazon.com). Volume 33, Issue 2
The Secret Life of Lance Letscher
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