Night at the Museum

I had an honest to goodness date with my husband last night. We saw this show. Pretty amazing. I highly recommend it if it's coming to your town. Or even if it isn't. There are very few "masterpieces" in this exhibition, as the work came largely from Picasso's personal collection, but there are many incredible and insightful pieces, sketches and sculptures, spanning his long and prolific career.

Of course we overheard some jerk saying "I could have painted any one of these." Classic. First of all, I doubt that, sir. Secondly, if you truly can paint like this, could you infuse it with such raw and apparent emotion? And last, could you have invented any one of the distinct styles that Picasso spearheaded? Could you have created work like this when no one in the entire world had ever seen anything remotely like it? By all means, sir. Give it your best shot. Go out and wow us with groundbreaking new Art.

It's too easy to be a critic, you can feign (and convince others of) superiority while risking next to nothing. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. I'm not saying to be blindly appreciative of every artist and his or her work. Form opinions and have favorites, look at things with a critical eye, and certainly learn to recognize truly bad art. But also recognize innovation, feeling and talent - even if it's not your bag... baby. You only succeed in making your world and yourself a little smaller by being the consummate critic.

OK, I'm off my soapbox. In other news, moving has me pretty busy, so I won't be posting as often as I'd like. Hang in there, and I'll be back to my usual in a few weeks. Thanks!