ART AFICIONADO

Saturday, November 15, 2025

Art Appreciation

Wayne Thiebaud was born Morton Wayne Thiebaud on November 15, 1920, in Mesa, Arizona, though his family moved when he was just a baby—settling in Southern California, mainly Long Beach, with interludes on an uncle’s ranch in Utah.

He grew up in a Mormon household; his father held various jobs—mechanic, real-estate, etc.—while young Wayne developed early interests in illustration, cartoons, and commercial art. In high school he worked odd jobs and spent summers apprenticing in animation at Walt Disney.

In his early career, Thiebaud studied at San José State and Sacramento State, finishing his BA in 1951 and MA in 1952. He taught art at Sacramento City College, and in 1956-57 took a leave and went to New York City. While there, he met artists like Willem de Kooning and saw the work of proto-Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. That time sharpened his ideas about form, color, and subject matter, especially how everyday objects might be portrayed with new visual weight.

Thiebaud’s style is notable for its heavy pigment, exaggerated or sharp color contrasts, strong shadows, and a sense of both realism and heightened formality. He often isolates commonplace items—cakes, pies, pastries, lipstick tubes, etc.—presented in neat rows or with rhythmic spacing. Over time he expanded beyond those still life and “confection” motifs to include figure painting and landscapes, including cityscapes, street scenes, hills, mountains, and California’s varied terrain.

His later works often explore space, distorted perspective, and color planes, yet retain that core attention to surface, texture, and the everyday. Among Thiebaud’s best known works are many of the still lifes: Cakes (1963), Bakery Counter (1962), Pies, Pies, Pies (1961), Drink Syrups (1961), Eight Lipsticks (1964), Three Strawberry Shakes (1964). In the landscape and street-scene vein, works such as Sunset Streets (1985) and Flatland River (1997) are often mentioned. Also later paintings of mountains (e.g. his Sierra Nevada series) and city views sustain his recognition.

Cakes (1963)

Bakery Counter (1962)

Pies, Pies, Pies (1961)

Sunset Streets (1985)

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.acquavellagalleries.com/exhibitions/wayne-thiebaud3

https://journalpanorama.org/article/wayne-thiebauds-california

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/thiebaud-wayne/

https://mymodernmet.com/wayne-thiebaud-paintings/

https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Wayne_Thiebaud/

https://brooklynrail.org/2014/11/artseen/wayne-thiebaud-nov

https://pastimesinc.com/art-history-101-wayne-thiebaud/

https://www.gratzgallery.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud

https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/who-was-wayne-thiebaud-bay-area-figurative-art-cakes-1234665954

https://www.lesliesacks.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud/biography

https://www.berggruen.com/artists/wayne-thiebaud

https://vec.crockerart.org/blogs/24-facts-about-wayne-thiebauds-early-life

https://ccplonline.org/blogs/childrens/14211-2/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wayne-Thiebaud

https://achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud

Friday, November 14, 2025

MODELING: Juliana

Model: Juliana

Photographer: Arkadiy Kozlovskiy

via Art Recaptured

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Richard Mulligan

Acting Appreciation

I remember Richard Mulligan best as Dr. Harry Weston in Empty Nest — the sitcom about a widowed pediatrician with older daughters (one played by the very pretty Kristy McNichol) and a dog named Dreyfuss. In Empty Nest, Mulligan’s character is coping with family, loss, and the day-to-day of raising grown kids, all with warmth and a bit of befuddlement. The show ran from 1988 to 1995, and it is the role many recall him by.

Mulligan was born November 13, 1932, in The Bronx, New York City. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War era, then studied playwriting at Columbia University. After his university years, he worked in theatre; one of his early significant stage appearances was All the Way Home on Broadway in 1960, where he was both stage manager and performer. Over the 1960s, he steadily built up his career in television guest spots and supporting roles, gradually moving toward more central roles.

In film, Mulligan is remembered for several notable roles. Perhaps most striking is his portrayal of General George Armstrong Custer in Little Big Man (1970), where he plays a more unhinged Custer than many typical portrayals. He also appeared in The Big Bus (1976), a comedic disaster-spoof, and had a leading part in S.O.B. (1981) in which he played a producer-director figure. He was often cast in supporting or character roles in films, bringing comedic timing and character depth even when his part was not the lead.

On television, besides Empty Nest, Mulligan had several other major roles. He played Burt Campbell on Soap from 1977-1981, a role that earned him a Primetime Emmy Award in 1980 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Later, for Empty Nest, he won a second Emmy (1989) and also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical for his performance.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/richard-mulligan/bio/3000084794

https://kids.kiddle.co/Richard_Mulligan

https://www.cbsrmt.com/actor/48-mulligan-richard.html

https://goldenglobes.com/person/richard-mulligan/

https://goldengirls.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Mulligan

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Genie on Hard Times with Parker Posey

via Funny or Die

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Celia Paul

Art Appreciation

Celia Paul’s work occupies a unique space between autobiography, presence, and the evolving definition of the female gaze. As both Karl Ove Knausgaard and Rachel Cusk explore in their respective writings, Paul’s paintings are deeply introspective, capturing those closest to her—her mother, siblings, and herself—often within the confines of her London flat. This space, serving as both home and studio, dissolves the distinction between artist and subject, reinforcing the quiet intensity of her work.

Cusk highlights the way Paul’s paintings embody stillness, drawing the viewer into the internal world of her subjects. Meanwhile, Knausgaard describes the paradox of her art—weightless yet heavy, timeless yet deeply personal. Her subdued color palettes, sparse compositions, and emotionally charged depictions create an atmosphere of presence that lingers beyond the canvas, offering a meditation on identity, memory, and solitude.

Paul’s artistic evolution was shaped in part by her complex relationship with Lucian Freud. In her memoir Self-Portrait, she reflects on the vulnerability of being his model, culminating in Naked Girl With Egg, where she is depicted in a passive, objectified pose. Yet, Paul later reclaimed this moment in Ghost of a Girl with an Egg, a reinterpretation that shifts the power dynamic—transforming herself from subject to artist, from observed to observer.

Knausgaard unpacks this reversal as Paul’s assertion of agency, challenging the traditional male gaze. Cusk, in contrast, situates Paul’s work within a broader discussion of the female gaze, contrasting her introspective, restrained approach with Cecily Brown’s bold, expressive energy. While Brown’s work is dynamic and full of movement, Paul’s remains quiet, reflective, and deeply personal. Both perspectives reveal Paul’s commitment to redefining the portrayal of women—not as passive subjects but as individuals engaged in self-examination and control over their own narratives.

Beyond her association with Freud, Paul’s artistic journey is marked by personal sacrifices in service of her craft. She has been unwavering in her commitment to solitude, even choosing to live apart from her husband and entrusting her son’s upbringing to her mother so she could fully dedicate herself to painting.

Her memoir captures this tension between personal relationships and artistic devotion, illuminating the costs and rewards of a life immersed in art. Ultimately, Paul’s work and life reflect an ongoing negotiation between selfhood, intimacy, and the act of seeing—both as an artist and as a woman defining her own presence in a world historically shaped by male-dominated narratives.

Painter and Model, 2012

Reclining Painter, 2023

My Sisters in Mourning, 2015–16

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/magazine/women-art-celia-paul-cecily-brown.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/02/03/the-world-changing-gaze-of-celia-paul

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/celia-paul-self-portrait-review/

https://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/new-celia-paul-works-at-victoria-miro-gallery/

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/27/celia-paul-self-portrait-memoir-interview-lucian-freud

https://newrepublic.com/article/159729/celia-paul-self-portrait-book-review

Monday, November 10, 2025

Kyla Cole

Modeling Appreciation

I remember thumbing through Penthouse magazine back in March 2000 and pausing at the “Pet of the Month” spread with a model called Kyla Cole (born Martina Jacová in 1978). What drew my attention were her slim 5'7" frame and natural 36C bust — she looked striking, especially among the pages of other models.

Kyla grew up in what is now eastern Slovakia (born November 10, 1978, in Ostrovany, Prešov region). Early in her life she studied fashion in high school, then moved to Prague. She began her modeling work around 1999, winning some pageants (including the Miss Monticello Raceway in New York) and moving into glamour and nude modeling. After the Penthouse recognition, her career expanded quickly: she appeared on many adult and men’s magazine covers, worked with noted glamour-photographers and filmmakers, including Andrew Blake.

She didn’t limit herself just to print and photos. From August 2003 to April 2004 she hosted a TV show called Láskanie on Slovakia’s Markíza channel. She also acted — for instance in Rumble Boy, filmed in the Philippines, where she played a lead female role. Over time though, her visibility lessened; she seems to have stepped back from modeling and adult film work by about 2009.

Off stage and page, Kyla is said to have a charismatic presence — some describe her as having natural beauty, confidence, a kind of charm that mixes glamour with approachability. She hasn’t been free of controversy: for example, there was a billboard advertising campaign for an instant coffee brand in Slovakia featuring her that was judged by the Slovak advertising council to breach norms of decency.

On the positive side, she’s done charitable work: between 2004-2005 she supported an orphanage in Šarišské Michaľany, Slovakia, running drives of gifts and aid. All told, she seems to have blended glamour modeling with enough personality and social consciousness to leave more than a superficial impression.