Considering ...

Hey, so what do you think of modern art? I think some pieces are pretty cool, while others lack inspiration. Of course, art is a very subjective thing, but really? a plastic hangar glued to a board? the museum paid for that???

I really don't get that hangar glued to that board. That's not art. I could have done that. My brother likes to say, "But you didn't." To which I respond, "I would have, if I'd known the museum wanted to pay for it."

So there, now you know the sort of art patron I am. Not altogether "open".

Recently, though, I decided to challenge myself, to open up and learn about Abstract Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. I plan to consider both  movements with an open mind, to not dismiss them the way I dismiss the hangar glued to the board.

Toward that end, this week I arrived early to the Members Only Preview of the museum's new show, Theodore Waddell's Abstract Angus. Mr. Waddell is a local artist who combines western and abstract art. Think: soft colors and wide brushstrokes that makes you hum, "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name ..."

I was alone, staring into the gallery of white works splotched with black blobs, wondering, would anyone else join me? Within five minutes of the opening, the space was overflowing with people, all so unlike myself. They were all so excited and so enthusiastic about Waddell's show. They were talking and laughing and ooh-ing & aaah-ing and I let myself enjoy them and the art they admired. I talked to several people, some artists, some not, all inspired.

.

Theodore Waddell, Motherwell’s Angus, 1994. Denver Art Museum

His work is inspiring. So far removed from the hangar glued to the board, his angus are clearly (okay, not so clearly) angus on snow-covered landscapes, soft, inviting.

Today's toast is to people who brush paint on canvases, wide strokes, thick blobs, dribbled over with gallons of turpentine. And to those who nudge me to enjoy those paintings with them.