“Three Machines” by Wayne Thiebaud (1963)


“Three Machines” Close-Up


This painting is on display at the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. I really didn’t like (understand?) it at first–but it keeps coming back to me, and it’s one of the only pieces I distinctly remember from when I visited the DeYoung a few weeks ago [others: "Anti-Mass" by Cornelia Parker, a suspended composition of charred wood collected from the grounds of church subject to arson, and a hallway on the second floor lined with 30+ chairs from different historical periods].  I think there really is something beautiful about the character of the painting. Use of perspective is sloppy, the subject matter is mundane, yet the experience of the piece is off-beat and interesting.

I’m no art critic (sorry if it sounds a bit like that on occasion, anyone who writes a blog is somewhat victim to vanity and/or arrogance from time to time), but my point is this: communication arts have to imprint an image/emotion/message in the heads of viewers/consumers/etc. to be effective, and this piece has a little of that magic glue that holds an idea in place. It is not the likability of this painting that has me writing about it over two months after the fact–it’s the itch of having not quite figured out how to define or categorize the piece’s impact.

Maybe what is INTERESTING perpetuates memory more deeply than what is LIKABLE.

Crispin, Porter & Bogusky (http://cpbgroup.com), a hot Miami-based ad agency, seems to live off this principle (and their client list should be enough to convince you that their methods work). If you know those  Old Navy mannequin commercials or Burger King’s ‘The King’ campaign you may understand what I’m talking about.

Until next time…

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