Lili Ristagno

4stars

 

 

Life and Times of a Changing Artist

By Ali Subotnick, Jim Lewis & Jason Weiss
Prestel Publishing, $60.00, 200 pages

Llyn Foulkes is an artist that most people have not heard of, yet his art will strike many to the core with his ideas, topics, and themes. Many of us have seen his work before, but did not know who the artist was. About once a decade he is rediscovered for a new generation, and now at the Hammer Museum he has a retrospective of his work, spanning his entire career. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest Foulkes grew up during a time of change in the United States, he briefly served in the army in Europe in the 1950s and was shocked by the destruction of the war. This would influence his art throughout the rest of his life. He went to school for art, and then settled in Los Angeles, one of the best places for a young artist to go. He never did fit in, he spent a lot of his time trying to raise his new family and make money; while also doing art on the side. Slowly his art started to sell and become notice. With his art selling and becoming more known, he became more and more paranoid about American culture. While everyone might not like his work, it is often a mirror back on our culture.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

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