Doodlin' - Impressions of Len Lye

This documentary, made seven years after the death of legendary filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye, tells Lye's story: from being a young boy staring at the sun, to travels around the Pacific and life in New York. It includes excerpts from many of his films, and interviews with second wife Ann and biographer Roger Horrocks. Len Lye himself is often heard, outlining his ideas of the ‘old brain’ and how Māori and Aboriginal art influenced his work. The grandeur of his ideas are only matched by their scale, with steel sculptures designed to be "at least 20 foot high".

In my studio, I make these type of models, it's kind of a prototype. And they're really planned for the big scale image. For instance this is now nine feet and this is six foot high. Why, it would be 60 foot high and 90 foot long ... when it's that size it would serve as a gateway, a gateway to a temple.

– Len Lye, on his sculpture Universe

Key Cast & Crew

Ron Orders

Camera Operator

Roger Horrocks

Subject

Larry Sider

Editor

Len Lye

Subject

Richard Bluck

Camera Operator

Keith Griffiths

Director, Producer