Wayne Thiebaud Interview (page: 6 / 6) Painter and Teacher	Print Interview

Has it made any difference in your work, working in a relatively small city like Sacramento, as opposed to living in Manhattan or L.A. or Paris?

Wayne Thiebaud: I'd love to live in Manhattan or Paris, or any place!

Do you think it's had an impact on your work to be in a relatively calm environment, outside of the jetsetting cities?

Wayne Thiebaud: Yeah. I really don't have any idea, because I think of myself walking down Madison Avenue, or looking for the next gallery, or the museum.

You could be there if you wanted to.

Wayne Thiebaud: I was, two different times, about a year each time. But I think I did miss space, maybe.

Light also?

Wayne Thiebaud: No, I'll tell you something about light.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Wayne Thiebaud: What fascinates me is what you can do about the light -- creating light -- in painting. I get my impetus from that. Not from light, oddly enough, but from the tradition of painting. Particularly in Bonnard, Matisse, German expressionists, Indian miniature painting, Chinese painting where the light is created by the interaction of colors, value, hue and intensity.

You've also mentioned Richard Diebenkorn as an influence.

Wayne Thiebaud: Very much, because he's interested in that same kind of process. Bonnard, Matisse, Indian miniature paintings, which he collected. That's where the light comes from, a spectral relationship within the painting itself.

What does the American Dream mean to you? You've talked in other interviews about that sort of American state of mind, kind of a "do it yourself" spirit.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Wayne Thiebaud: Well, I'm essentially a kind of self-educated person, I guess. But I think everybody is; that's the way we really learn. In other words, you see examples and so on. But I didn't ever go really to a formal art school, for instance, particularly a fine arts school. But I would love to have gone, I wanted to go. So in that case, it's possible, I think, not only in America but every place, to take it on yourself. But that is a part, I think, of the American character, in terms of the frontier theory idea, where you make your own hot rod or you build your own log cabin. You know, all these instances of hands-on, willing to work, "I can make it better. I can do it differently." So that is a part, at least for me, of what I do. I think the work for me is very American, although I love all art, from whatever country or tradition. I just think that where you live, how you live, and what you take on, mostly is this little area of America for me.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

Thank you so much for speaking with us today.

Wayne Thiebaud: Now I'm going to run.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Wayne Thiebaud Interview, Page: 1   2   3   4   5   6