Oral history interview with Llyn Foulkes
name: label: Interviewee
content: Foulkes, Llyn, 1934-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
topic: label: Topic
content: Painters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Philosophy
label: Topic
content: Art -- Philosophy
label: Topic
content: Art -- Technique
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Foulkes, Llyn, 1934-
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Llyn Foulkes (1934-) is an assemblage artist in Los Angeles, Calif.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Sound cassettes (Sound recording, master (6 hrs., 25 min.), analog)
label: Extent
content: 104 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1997 June 25-1998 Dec. 2
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.foulke97
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Llyn Foulkes conducted 1997 June 25-1998 Dec. 2, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, in Foulkes home and studio, Los Angeles, Calif.
label: Scope and Contents
content: The interview begins with a discussion of Foulkes's move to downtown Los Angeles and "The Brewery" ["The Brewery" was formerly a working brewery that has been transformed into living/studio space for artists] from Topanga. A long discussion takes place about this being where he belongs as opposed to the fashionable westside. The interview continues with a discussion of divorce, his wife, narcissism, and the incorporation of his recent life in his current assesmblage work. He discusses lessons learned from the Old Masters, and Wilhem de Kooning; issues of abstraction vs. representation; and subject vs. style. He proceeds with a discussion about his ideas on music, rock and roll, jazz, black music, and the influence of Spike Jones that led to his own rock group "Rubber Band." There follows a lengthy discussion of the Ferus Gallery, Walter Hopps, Maurice Tuchman, Henry Hopkins, Rolf Nelson, John Coplans, and Christopher Knight. He also discusses Los Angeles as the center of popular art and culture. He reflects on his kinship with Wallace Berman and the spirituality they shared; his isolation as an outsider; his regrets about not responding to others (including Berman and George Herms), seeing it as a lost opportunity to participate more fully in the local art world and cultivating supportive relationships. The political content of his work was also covered at some length.