Film review: "Beauty is Embarrassing"

Our staff really enjoyed this movie, and we recommend it to everyone interested in art of any kind. It's especially helpful for fine art students and young artists who are trying to break into the art world. I saw it for the first time on PBS, and was truly amazed. I immediately searched for more info about it online and found the film's Website. I wasn't familiar with the film's subject, Wayne White, but I did know his wife from my time in the underground comic book industry as an editor and publisher.

What's unique about the documentary is that we rarely get a brutally honest look inside the mind of an artistic genius, in addition to seeing the worlds in which he currently lives and works. I was delighted to learn that Mr. White had worked alongside punk art icon Gary Panter on the ground-breaking CBS kids' program, "Pee Wee's Playhouse," one of my all-time favorite Saturday morning TV shows. He designed sets, then designed and operated several puppets, even providing the voices for some.

Mr. White has has traversed many aspects of the art world in his long and ultimately successful career, and has won three Emmys. If Mr. White wasn't so honest about his emotions, he might be a more successful artist, but because he always goes where his heart leads him, he is nevertheless a great artist and a better person than most of his contemporaries. His comic genius wife, Mimi Pond, surely had a lot to do with that.

As an artist who has worked in film and TV for many years, I enjoyed this film repeatedly, and I found his rebirth as a painter and poet to be extremely touching. Watching a gallery owner say "Where the hell did this guy come from?" was priceless. Later, my wife and I had the good fortune to meet him at one of his puppet shows, and that was just as exciting as seeing him on TV. Mr. White says, "Do what you love well, have fun, make beauty, never quit and the rest of life will work itself out." Thank you, Mr. White, for putting your heart and soul into this revealing, unique documentary feature.

The film has won several awards at film festivals across the country, and can be purchased and added to your collection at a very reasonable cost.