Curatorialist

It’s easy for Wayne Thiebaud’s work to get kind of lost in the timeline of
artistic movements. He sometimes gets lumped in with the Pop Art movement,
but he came before them. He hung out with abstractionists, like de Kooning
and Kline, but wasn’t an abstractionist. His work can be compared to
Hopper’s, but it’s not really even close. Also, that pastel look of his, in
a world where we’ve learned to talk more in terms of fashion than movements,
can appear perhaps dated. But it’s not.

What I know about Thiebaud is mostly from my personal experience, seeing his
work at the exact same time I was getting into fine art. His work, to me,
was simply good painting. It wasn’t conceptual, so much as it wasn’t asking
a lot of questions, but it was of the highest order of skill. Unlike more
conceptual artists, or even the Pop movement, Thiebaud’s work was
undeniable. More than a craftsman, he was a professional. I wasn’t a
painter, but all the painters I knew respected him. That was important to
me, growing up. Art was not a safe or appreciated course of study, so
observing people who were serious about art and who treated it with respect,
pride and honor proved to me that it could be an endeavor of high regard. He
also understood the importance of inviting criticism into one’s life, and
being critical of one’s self, in order to push the work.

“We all need critical confrontation of the fullest and most extreme kind
that we can get. You can unnecessarily limit yourself by choosing your
criticism.” – Wayne Thiebaud

We’re in a macro kind of society that likes to label, categorize and write
the book before the story is even finished. Thiebaud reminds us that
everyday objects, family and the normal sights we see on our daily routines
are worthy of the artist’s attention. You don’t have to worry so much about
your theme and your importance to the world, at large. You can just see the
cupcake and paint it. And paint it well.