Just saw a screening at the Rio in Vancouver, knowing almost nothing about legendary street artist/addict Ken Foster, and this blew me away. I'm always fascinated by brilliant people who can't keep up with their own minds, creating amazing art and having mind boggling ideas, but who also harbor addictions to help them cope with this. Foster isn't exactly battling his addiction, it's essentially part of his process and doesn't seem to slow down his art in any way. Yet he does fight with schizophrenia, resulting in one tearjerking moment of clarity in his pain as he wrestles with his own mental burden. Ken hustles his breathtaking art on the street for chump change, practically, and you're so taken with him you just wish people would pay him what he's actually worth(he does have a few proper patrons keeping him afloat to a degree, though). His offbeat friendship with a fellow crackhead Melissa could spawn a ten hour series and still not wear out its welcome. And we cheer alongside him as he enters a prominent Art Battle competition, turning out masterpieces in 20 minutes. Even if you've not heard of its subject, I expect this doc will not only put Foster on the map in a global art scene, but be hailed as straight-up terrific filmmaking as it gets out there. Huge thumbs up!
3 Reviews
Didn't Know
westsideschl8 October 2018
I didn't know what to expect from this doc, and not what I would have guessed in a millennia.
What you get are some insights into:
a. The life of some street artists.
b. Mental illness (psychological disorder) is more than just one item in a list of DSM-5 categories. Not a simple stereotype, complex.
c. Effects of crack cocaine.
d. One person's life, even if amongst billions.
e. Often debated, and clearly shown here, should you give money or give food when asked, especially when knowing the possible outcomes of your contribution to a person's life. Are you fostering the dependence? Or, are you sustaining another day of life? Do we judge? Sort of reminds me of the train track dilemma - you have to choose, and either choice results in life saved as well as life lost.
Finally, you might ask yourself, "What comes from his new fame & it's royalties?"
A rough but interesting movie
BandSAboutMovies3 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
According to CBC, "In some circles, Ken Foster is a well-respected artist with a unique style and an international following. To others, he is known as the guy living in alleys who has been hawking his work on city's streets for more than 20 years."
For over eighteen months, documentary filmmaker Josh Laner followed Foster, known to locals as Vancouver's Vincent Van Gogh, through the streets of the city's rough and tumble Gastown.
Foster is incredibly prolific and while he has said he won't sell a painting for other twenty dollars, in the same breath he says that he's sold one for $2 to buy a Slurpee. That said, he's also painting to support a crack habit that he feels keeps his schizophrenia under control.
The film starts moments before Ken enters Vancouver's Art Battle competition, which is all about live competitive painting. It seems like everyone there is abuzz about Ken's appearance, but they all seem to be more excited than he is to be there.
This film raises plenty of points - are the people buying Ken's work supporters of art who supporters of his drug habit? Is the madness that Ken endures why he's such an amazing artist? And can he move into becoming a legit fine artist and leave the street and the people of it behind? In fact, when asked, what would you give up, smoking crack or art, Foster is unable to decide until figuring that art is what he loves, but that question is inherently silly to him because crack is such a fundamental part of his life.
Foster doesn't have a relationship in his life that doesn't seem painful, from how he feels about his mother to how his girlfriend randomly disappears, only to come back and battle with him. Only art feels like a constant in his life, but he only feels like he has reached one percent of what he could have been. And he feels like he is nothing to his daughter, which kills him as he doesn't even know if he wants to be alive. Trust me - this is a rough watch.
The hardest part of this movie to watch was Ken leaving one of the Art Battles, even as a viewer is telling him that he is a true artist, because he needs crack to set his mind right. Crack no longer makes him high, each toke only sets his brain as straight as it can be so he is no longer in a heightened state of anxiety. He hates what he has painted and it begins to send him into a downward spiral. This scene is animated instead of shown, so everything becomes heightened and more frightening as real life gives way to darkness and terror.
Going into the finals, Ken can't even find his brushes and is losing control, even as he's the crowd favorite. You can't invent drama like this. I don't want to spoil the rest of the film at this point, so you should really watch it for yourself. I wanted Ken to emerge from this saved, but I don't truly know if that's possible, so I realize that's a spoiler, but it helps going into this movie knowing how harrowing it is. People genuinely love him and tell him but none of it ever gets through or fixes anything.
For over eighteen months, documentary filmmaker Josh Laner followed Foster, known to locals as Vancouver's Vincent Van Gogh, through the streets of the city's rough and tumble Gastown.
Foster is incredibly prolific and while he has said he won't sell a painting for other twenty dollars, in the same breath he says that he's sold one for $2 to buy a Slurpee. That said, he's also painting to support a crack habit that he feels keeps his schizophrenia under control.
The film starts moments before Ken enters Vancouver's Art Battle competition, which is all about live competitive painting. It seems like everyone there is abuzz about Ken's appearance, but they all seem to be more excited than he is to be there.
This film raises plenty of points - are the people buying Ken's work supporters of art who supporters of his drug habit? Is the madness that Ken endures why he's such an amazing artist? And can he move into becoming a legit fine artist and leave the street and the people of it behind? In fact, when asked, what would you give up, smoking crack or art, Foster is unable to decide until figuring that art is what he loves, but that question is inherently silly to him because crack is such a fundamental part of his life.
Foster doesn't have a relationship in his life that doesn't seem painful, from how he feels about his mother to how his girlfriend randomly disappears, only to come back and battle with him. Only art feels like a constant in his life, but he only feels like he has reached one percent of what he could have been. And he feels like he is nothing to his daughter, which kills him as he doesn't even know if he wants to be alive. Trust me - this is a rough watch.
The hardest part of this movie to watch was Ken leaving one of the Art Battles, even as a viewer is telling him that he is a true artist, because he needs crack to set his mind right. Crack no longer makes him high, each toke only sets his brain as straight as it can be so he is no longer in a heightened state of anxiety. He hates what he has painted and it begins to send him into a downward spiral. This scene is animated instead of shown, so everything becomes heightened and more frightening as real life gives way to darkness and terror.
Going into the finals, Ken can't even find his brushes and is losing control, even as he's the crowd favorite. You can't invent drama like this. I don't want to spoil the rest of the film at this point, so you should really watch it for yourself. I wanted Ken to emerge from this saved, but I don't truly know if that's possible, so I realize that's a spoiler, but it helps going into this movie knowing how harrowing it is. People genuinely love him and tell him but none of it ever gets through or fixes anything.
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