Image ©Jason Gamble Harter
THE SECRET LIFE OF LANCE LETSCHER
Director:
Sandra Adair
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
Dallas
About:
A candid profile of a collage artist and his process.
In her directorial debut, Adair, Richard Linklater’s longtime editor, profiles artist Lance Letscher, whose work consists of collaged images meticulously cut out of a variety of sources, from children’s books to scientific journals, as he takes on a commission in metal, a material in which he has not typically worked. As the artist demonstrates his painstaking and not uninteresting process, admirers offer somewhat too fawning praise. While the film attempts to make a case for his renown, and despite representation by a NYC gallery, there’s an overwhelming feeling that Letscher is very much primarily a local Austin art scene figure. This regional specificity broadens out a bit with more universal themes as he reveals some of the personal, often traumatic history that has informed his work, but this project remains primarily of interest to a specialized audience.
what (not) to doc 