Llyn Foulkes in Llyn Foulkes One Man Band (Abigail Gumbiner)

Halfway through Llyn Foulkes One Man Band, the title subject is at a gallery staring at one of his paintings. Actually it’s a photograph of a rock formation blown up to about 8 by 10 feet and which Foulkes then painted. Decades ago, the painting sold like hot cakes. The art world loved his work. Foulkes could have been comfortable financially and secure in his status as the brilliant artist that does rock paintings. But he moved on. Switched up his style. And just as the art world started to catch on to his latest incarnation, he switched up again. And so on.

The film opens when Foulkes is 70 and staring at a painting he was been working on for eight years. Obsessively. He will soon be handing it over to a gallery for his first New York show in more than a decade. Watching him describe what he feels need to be done is in itself a master class in creativity. Or obsessive compulsive behavior. Or both. And that is the key to understanding Llyn Foulkes or the creative process in general.

Llyn Foulkes One Man Band is about the obsession of creation. The pouring of one’s soul and feelings, be they joy or anger, into a painting, song, book, whatever. One particular painting depicts himself and his wife in bed. Both are awake. She lies facing away from him, and he sits with a look of abject terror on his face. He says he was trying to save the marriage by saving the painting.

His beloved Machine he terms “the monkey on his back.” The Machine is an instrument he created himself, a collection of old-time car horns, xylophones, drums, and a keyboard. He writes and plays his own music on it as a one-man band. Photos are shown of it decades ago in its early stages, and you can see how now it has grown to engulf the man, both physically and emotionally. In fact, watching him play the Machine and sing are the only moments in the film where Foulkes generally seems at peace.

I should mention he is one of the more entertaining cantankerous old men you are likely to meet, which is good, because the focus is squarely on him. You see his family briefly, and there are occasional talking heads, but it’s mostly Llyn. Ranting. Discussing art. Worrying. He is (self admittedly) profoundly narcissistic and profoundly human.

And the art he creates… is friggin’ amazing.