Lucy Chinen muses on Llyn Foulkes' painting Pop (1985-90) on view in the Llyn Foulkes retrospective at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles though May 19, 2013.

Chinen writes: "The expression of disgust towards American capitalism and immersive pop culture is not a particularly unique perspective in contemporary art, which is why it is rare when a work is able to communicate this feeling without being trite. Foulkes' stance does not come off as trite because it does not adhere to the currency of unique ideas within contemporary art. Foulkes adopts a narrative of tired resignation, illustrating himself with an intoxicated look in his eyes, a facial expression of vacant submission. The music emanating from the painting is darkly patriotic and carnivalesque. The domestic setting for an American dystopia is perfectly preserved in the diorama-like painting. Various styles converge in the work which plays with an exaggeratedly banal King of the Hill caricature, the grotesque thickness of a Phillip Guston painting, and the illusionistic qualities of Magritte."