Sunday, June 28, 2015

Len Lye in his own words





A new book revealing artist Len Lye in his own words reflects a man who lived an ethos of great energy and happiness. Linda Herrick reports


Len Lye returned to New Zealand briefly in  1968 and visited his old childhood home at Cape Campbell.
Len Lye returned to New Zealand briefly in 1968 and visited his old childhood home at Cape Campbell.
When Auckland writer Roger Horrocks was researching his 2001 biography of New Zealand artist Len Lye, he celebrated the originality, inventiveness and humour which made him such a towering figure in international modernism. Now Horrocks has just released a new book: Zizz!, a word Lye used to mean energy, fizz, excitement - the very embodiment of the way he lived his life.

It's a nicely compact volume which burrows into more personal anecdotes than the earlier book. Horrocks had access to Lye's notes, essays and letters, and he also talked to some of Lye's friends, particularly the girlfriends. Lye had a lot of girlfriends.
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