Inspiration from Without

I used to be an art handler at the Crocker Art Museum while they were undergoing renovations and many pieces of artwork needed to be moved, stored and cared for. Since I was a part of the staff there, I was invited to go to the museum's "Friends & Family Preview Day" last Thursday. It was amazing to see the progress that had occurred in the time that I had come back to Davis and not been able to work at the Museum. While I was perusing the halls with an old co-worker, we stopped by the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit and looked around.

Much of what Thiebaud paints is literal—pie, cake, streets, buildings, people, etc. The abstraction in his work is not derived from emotion, rather he is inspired by tangible, often very repetitive things. For example, Cakes, 1963 is an example of the type of staging in many of Thiebauds artworks.

I love Thiebaud's paintings as lightly whimsical colorful pieces, produced with a specialty-impasto technique that is iconic of himself. His works are simple enough to comprehend at a glance, but also have a depth and detail to them which can be critically scrutinized.

As in Cakes, and many of his paintings (to varying degrees) the sense of whimsy is carried throughout; from the decoration on the top of the cakes, to the shapes and color iterations in the shadows & scene. The painting (below) shows some more of the colorful shadows Thiebaud produces in his works.

Not knowing much about Thiebaud sparked an afternoon of research for me. He has lived in California for much of his life—teaching at Sacramento State University & University of California, Davis (where he still, on occasion, lectures). His work is recognized as part of the 'Pop Movement', world-wide and I am excited to go back to the Crocker every chance I get to be inspired by his artworks.