American artist Llyn Foulkes has died at the age of 91, Kent Fine Art, which oversees his work, confirmed to ARTnews Friday.
Foulkes was known for his refusal to adhere to a single style or approach, which often confounded critics and galleries alike. What seemed like aimlessness to some often placed Foulkes ahead of the curve, showing at the legendary Fergus Gallery in the mid-1960s—ahead of Andy Warhol—where he was declared an early master of Pop art with his famous Cow (also three years ahead of Warhol’s bovine prints). He rose to prominence among the likes of John Baldessari, Wallace Berman, Robert Irwin, and Ed Ruscha.
In 1967, Foulkes was awarded the painting prize at the Paris Biennale at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, which was followed by an exhibition there. That same year, Foulkes was selected to represent the United States in the IX São Paulo Art Biennial at the Museu de Arte Moderna São Paulo, Brazil.
By the early 1980s, Foulkes’s work began including more collaged elements, with fabric affixed to the surfaces of his paintings that created an illusion of both visual and narrative depth.
Prominent themes in Foulkes’ work include meditations on the nature of photography, considerations of nostalgic Americana, and commentaries on commercial pop culture—all brought to life with a playful sense of humor.
In addition to being an artist, Foulkes was an accomplished jazz musician and performer. He played alongside artist R. Crumb and formed the Rubber Band in 1973, which made an appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and ran through 1977. By 1979, Foulkes developed and played a one-man-band instrument that he invented, which he dubbed the Machine.
Foulkes was born on November 17, 1934 in Yakima, Washington. He initially studied music and art at Central Washington College of Education in Ellensburg until 1954, when he was drafted into the US Army. He served two years in postwar Germany before returning to the US to attend Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) through 1959. Foulkes lived and worked in Los Angeles from then until his death.
His work has been exhibited internationally at such institutions as the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, New Museum in New York, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. He participated in Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, in 2012, and, in 2013, his oeuvre was the subject of a retrospective organized by the Hammer.
In lieu of a formal obituary, Kent Fine Art shared a song that Foulkes had been writing:
I’m just an
Old honky
Doin time
Just an old honky
On the decline
Just an old honkey
Walkin to the finishing line
I’m just an old honkey
Doin time
Time for being a bad ass
For stepping on first class
For bein a clown
Puttin people down
On my little red merry go round
Just an old honkey
Doin time
Time for bein jeoulous
Of the popular fellas
For not playin the game
Not takin the blame
On this rocky rocky road
To fame
