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| From cartoons to skinheads: Documenting Atilla Richard Lukacs |
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by Charelle Evelyn Art. It can be cathartic or it can drive you mad. For Canadian sensation Attila Richard Lukacs, it fills both roles. Drawing out the Demons, the new documentary by David Vaisbord, tells Lukacs’ story in a way that makes the viewer feel like part of the Edmonton-born painter’s inner circle. The film opens in the summer of 2001 in New York’s meat packing district. The initial shots of raw meat hanging from hooks and dripping with blood are a fitting reminder that art isn’t always pretty and it might make you uncomfortable - like most of Lukacs’ creations. We’re first introduced to Lukacs and those in his world at his New York studio where they are packing everything and moving out after five years of occupancy. While he may have found great success in Europe, his life-sized homoerotic depictions of neo-Nazi skinheads weren’t a big hit with New York’s mainstream market. Jumping back in time to Lukacs’ early days as a student at Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, interviews with former classmates reveal he was a unique talent who managed to turn everything into “obscene cartoons.” While Lukacs and his friends pull his canvasses from the walls and prepare them for storage, they talk about the toll this failure has taken on all of them. “I’d gladly piss on his bones any day of the week and not be too sorry about it,” says Lukacs’ boyfriend of a year-and-a-half. As the film traces Lukacs’ life and career, his paintings become more of a focal point. Although the film is billed as “a film about the artist,” one can’t help but feel that his personal story takes a backseat to his work. Lukacs’ paintings are incredibly shocking and controversial, yet gorgeous. He manages to take something unseemly, like a group of naked men beating someone to death, and bring it to life in such a way that while it may offend you, you can’t tear your eyes away from it. It is this talent that enabled Lukacs to keep on going even after his letdown in New York. ¼é The film follows him on his sojourn in Hawaii where he worked to get himself off of drugs and find solace in doing what he loves: Painting. One doesn’t have to be an art lover to appreciate this film. Vaisbord has managed to tell the story of Lukacs’ fight to rid himself of his demons without being cliche or fatalistic. By focusing on his family and his artwork, the audience is able to understand Lukacs’ internal struggle as well as, if not better than, if he were shown curled up in a dark room with a needle sticking out of his arm. http://www.charlatan.ca/articles/2005/03/03/stories/72475.html The Charlatan is Carleton University's independent student newspaper. It is an editorially and financially autonomous journal published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during the summer. Charlatan Publications Incorporated, Ottawa, Ontario, is a non-profit corporation registered under the Canada Corporations Act and is the publisher of the Charlatan. Editorial content is the sole responsibility of the editorial staff members, but may not reflect the beliefs of all members. Contents are copyright 2005. |