Llyn Foulkes at the Hammer Museum

I roamed around Westwood today and enjoyed the free Thursdays at the Hammer Museum.  After visiting the wonderful permanent collection of paintings, I roamed over to the visiting exhibition of works by Llyn Foulkes.  The 150 artworks from collections in the U.S. and Europe have been brought together showing his diverse creations over a 50 year career.

Llyn Foulkes was born in 1934 in Yakima, Washington but has been based in Southern California for most of his career.  Surrealist painter, Salvador Dali, was Foulkes role model and that tells you a lot about this creative and sometimes wild artist.  He his both a painter and musician...playing drums in rock bands including his own called "Rubber Band."  He has also created an instrument which he calls the Machine, "a magnificent multipart instrument featuring a cluster of horns and cowbells, a bass, organ pipes, percussion, and more" which we observed on a video provided with head phones.  "The music, as fearless and direct as the paintings, demonstrate a refreshing honesty and forthrightness." (quotes from the exhibit description)

His paintings have evolved from devastated landscapes of post-WW II Germany where he was in military service, to rocky western landscapes, to "bloody head" paintings which feature portraits of political figures and others with obscured or mutilated faces.  He painted a lot of Mickey Mouse in his scenes.  His former father-in-law was the head animator of Disney Studios and he gave Foulkes the Mickey Mouse Club Handbook from 1934.  Foulkes was stunned by the blatant attempts to brainwash children.  So that's what's wrong with our generation?  M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E