Overview

The paintings of nudes in Folsom’s body of work called Women Smoking are rendered in transparent layers, gently glazed in the style of the Dutch masters to fit seamlessly into their interiors. The paintings are somber, intimate, introspective Rorschach tests appropriate to their sad inspiration: “Cigarettes killed my mom at 58 and my sister Susan at 30.”

Folsom’s best-known works are from his LAST CALL series of large honky-tonk scenes in a local strip joint. Originally considering himself a Surrealist, in 1983 he chanced upon the Shepherd Park Go-Go Bar: “The situation inside that nightclub was way-weirder than any of my surreal artwork.” He photographed the interior and began a 7’x20’ triptych, LAST CALL at the Shepherd Park Go-Go Bar, which he describes as “…a 140 square foot prayer.”