David
Zwirner, 533 West 19th Street USA | NEW
YORK | CHELSEA
APRIL 29,
2017-JUNE 24, 2017 Save to calendar
Llyn
Foulkes - David Zwirner, 533 West 19th Street
David
Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of major works by Los Angeles-based
artist Llyn Foulkes, on view at 533 West 19th Street in New York. Including
exemplary works from 1964 to 2005, the exhibition comprises three series that
define Foulkes's six-decade-long career: mountainous landscapes, "bloody
head" portraits, and narrative tableaux.
Foulkes's
singular oeuvre has inhabited and excavated the remains of the American West
and its attendant promise of freedom and prosperity. Probing a once wondrous
frontier, now rendered a wasteland, Foulkes exposes the American Dream as
co-opted by an increasingly commercialized, corporatized, and militarized
society. The landscape of the American West features prominently throughout his
works, signifying both the once-cherished myth and subsequent failure of the
American Dream.
Inspired by
old touristic postcards, Foulkes’s "postcard paintings" of mountains
and rocks turn towards Pop, incorporating standardized imagery and serial
elements. Death Valley, Calif. (1964) depicts a mountainous expanse, modeled by
soaking rags in pigment and applying them directly onto the surface of the work
to create a subtle texture and shading, thus attaining a nearly photorealistic
quality. The work is anchored at its left and bottom edges by a yellow and
black striped border, recalling cautionary road signs. Underneath five
stamp-like bald eagles lies an inscription copied from a book by Ulysses S.
Grant: "This painting is dedicated to the American." Is this
dedication a sincere statement of gratitude or allegiance, or does it evoke a
heavy-handed patriotism or claim of entitlement? The various framing devices
surrounding the seemingly untouched terrain remind viewers that this is a
representation, a fragmentation of the frontier that has been commoditized for
cursory enjoyment.
Foulkes's
"bloody head" portraits—depicting deformed or obstructed faces—began
with a self-portrait, Who's on Third (1971-1973). After encountering an
autopsied corpse at a mortuary, he concealed the portrait’s recognizable
features with a flow of lurid-red blood and a cloth-like mask. Subsequent
bloody head paintings exemplify an increasingly critical view of American
politics and popular culture, taking up presidents, military figures, corporate
businessmen, and the entertainment industry as subjects. In the 1980s, Walt
Disney, Mickey Mouse, and other comic characters became recurring figures in
his narrative paintings—now sinister intrusions representing disillusionment
with the wholesome agenda proffered by the Disney Empire.
Another
group of portraits integrates photographs, painted over with oil, as well as
found materials that extend out of the wooden frame. With these tableaux works,
Foulkes sought to attain an even greater illusion of depth. In addition to
utilizing found materials, the artist's distinctive technique involves carving
directly into wood to create real shadows; some of his works expand to
immersive size, taking several years to finish. Old Glory (1996/2001-2003)
sardonically portrays a barren landscape made of rough-carved wood and various
recycled materials. At center, the American flag hangs limply over a pile of
burning rubble, and in the background stands the only lasting monument: a
yellow arched McDonalds sign. In Where Did I Go Wrong? (1991) Foulkes's pop
cultural critique meets his earlier landscape paintings and—as with many of the
works presented here—expresses a personal and collective anxiety.
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