Artsy Fartsy

This past Tuesday night, I was fortunate enough to be artsy fartsy again (it's been awhile) for a couple of hours with my (our) dear friend Sara.
UC Davis' Art Department Gallery, is presenting a show, You See, which shows off works of past faculty, Wayne Thiebaud (Uncle Wayne), Manuel Neri, William T. Wiley, Roy De Forest and Robert Arneson. After the reception, there was a panel discussion with the three surviving artists, Thiebaud, Neri and Wiley. The discussion as a whole was O.K. (we felt the moderator could have done a much better job) but for me, it felt so good to be back in an academic setting listening to, Thiebaud and Neri specifically, discussing what art is, teaching and old stories of the notorious group. These men are our generation's great artists.

Thiebaud was one of my teachers when I was a student at UC Davis (I have degrees in Art Studio and Art History). I took three courses from him (2 painting and 1 theory) and admired him since 1995, when he was an artist in residence at my old junior college in Pasadena, CA. In our household, we call him Uncle Wayne, for his kindness, openness and wittiness towards teaching and life. He is someone truly unique not only to the art world, but the world as a whole. Gosh, I'd love to go to that theory class with a cup of coffee and listen to him talk. The time would fly. He's 86, teaching and a true painter. I will never forget him saying to us, "Paint what you know. Search within yourselves. There is only one of you, that is what will make your art unique."
So true.

Neri is one of my favorite sculptors (along with, Hesse and Giacometti), for his beautifully formed and isolated nudes and complex surfaces and textures. And oh, I love his drawings. I'm a sucker for well drawn nudes, especially one's with a great use of gesture and lines. Mmmmm, yummy. He opens his studio up every once and awhile and I've been so lucky to have gone a couple of times. Neri's figures hold life. You can feel the energy when you're in a room full of them or see one alone in a museum.