Beauty Is Embarrassing (2012)
Raised in the Tennessee mountains, Wayne White started his career as a cartoonist in NYC. He quickly found success as one of the creators of the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show which soon led to more work designing some of the most arresting and iconic images in pop culture. Recently his word paintings featuring pithy and and often sarcastic text statements finely crafted onto vintage landscape paintings have made him a darling of the fine art world. The movie chronicles the vaulted highs and crushing lows of an artist struggling to find peace and balance between his professional work and his personal art. This is especially complicated for a man who struggles with the virtues he most often mocks in his art...Vanity, ego and fame.
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Reviews
Such a frustrating disappointment
Let's be realistic.
As Good As It Gets
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
If you identify with being an artist, worth watching.
A Straightforward, No-Frills Documentary about "Gonzo" Artist Wayne White that goes Off the Rails Immediately when White Shows Up, Starts Talking and Showing His "Wild and Crazy" Art.Not a Household Name but His Work is sure to have been Seen in many a Households. An Emmy Winning Puppeteer on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", and the Set Designer for the Award Winning "Smashing Pumpkins" Video, "Tonight Tonight". He's also done Art for TV Commercials, like the "Old Spice" Spot, featuring Bruce Campbell.More Recently He is making a "Name" for Himself in some Art Circles with "Found" Art Recreations of Thrift Store Bought Landscape Paintings, where He adds Block Letter Slogans (sometimes lewd and profane).The Film is Hosted by Wayne as He Tells His Life Story, Warts and All. Once on Top in Hollywood, after the Cancellation of "Pee-Wee", He found Himself Struggling to get Work that didn't involve Greuling Isolation like "One Man Animation". According to Wayne an Impossible Task.After a bout with Breakdowns and Mental Illness, Wayne White Recovered and now does Tours Promoting His Work with an Amusing Stage and AV Show. He is Happy living with His Wife of Many Years, Underground Comic Book Artist, Mimi Pond, and is as Creative as Ever. This is a Funny and Touching Portrait of the Artist with much Self-Deprecation and an equal Amount of Rage and Disdain for what's Considered "Art" in the "Art World". A Multi-Talented Man that Reached the Highs and Lows of His Lifelong Obsession with Art and has the Statues and Scars to Prove it. Highly Recommended for Lovers of Primitive Art, or any Art for that matter, and to Look In on a Man who went from the Hillbilly Life in Alabama to the Hollywood Hipster Scene and Back. He's got a lot to Say about Art and has the Talent to pull it off in an Amusement of Style.
I'm an artist and I went to see this movie last week with a friend of mine who's also an artist. I'm a cartoonist/illustrator, and my friend designs avant garde costumes. I didn't hate the movie, but it wasn't worth the price of admission, and I don't think I would be missing out if I never saw it in the first place. My friend would disagree, he loved it and is encouraging everyone to see it. Where I found it only moderately inspiring, he felt deeply motivated to create more art. I watch a lot of docs, and normally I turn them off if they suck. I would have turned this off if I could have. I guess it's just not everyone's cup of tea.
This movie is a phenomenal experience for anyone interested in art of any kind. I saw it at the new Sundance Sunset in West Hollywood, a wonderful place, and rarely do we get such a blatantly honest lookinside the mind and life history of an artistic genius as well the worlds he currently lives and works in. I say worlds plural because Wayne has traversed many of them in his long and highly successful career, including three Emmys, and inhabits several of them still. If Wayne wasn't so scrupulously honest about his emotions he might be a wealthier man but that he always sticks to his guns is what makes him a great artist and a better person. No doubt his fellow genius wife had a lot to do with that. Thus my title, get it?As a writer I enjoyed it immensely and found his rebirth as a rock star painter/poet to be uniquely inspiring. Watching the critics say "where the hell did this guy come from?" was priceless for anyone languishing to create something great while getting little recognition for it. Meeting him after the showing proved to be as funny and heartwarming as seeing him on the big screen. Do what you love well, have fun, make beauty, and never quit and the rest of it will work out!! Thanks again Wayne!