Far Beyond ‘Playhouse,’ Artist Remains Playful
Beauty Is Embarrassing NYT Critic’s PickDirected by Neil Berkeley Documentary, Biography, Comedy Not Rated 1h 28m
By Andy Webster
- Sept. 6, 2012 (NYTimes.com)
The creativity grows like kudzu in “Beauty Is Embarrassing,” Neil Berkeley’s enlightening and often hilarious portrait of the Los Angeles artist Wayne White. And it yields a thousand blossoms. Mr. White, an Emmy-winning puppeteer for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” has had his share of career dips, only to arrive as a popular painter of some very amusing canvases. Tracing his evolution, the film gets at larger issues — about imagination, relationships and laughter.
Mr. White, born and raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., came to New York City from Middle Tennessee State University in 1981 with a gift for cartooning and puppetry. He later found himself among the formidable brain trust behind “Playhouse,” Paul Reubens’s blazingly original Saturday morning kids’ show on CBS between 1986 and 1990.
(Image from IMDb)
“Playhouse” contributors — Mr. Reubens, the artist Gary Panter and the musician Mark Mothersbaugh — recount the show’s hothouse of invention, especially during its first season, when it was shot in a Manhattan loft. Mr. White designed and provided voices for some of the marionettes, including the musician Dirty Dog and the troublemaker Randy. A documentary highlight is priceless backstage footage taken at the time by Mr. White. “Playhouse,” he has said, “was a downtown New York art project on TV.”
But life after “Playhouse” — Mr. White followed the show to Los Angeles — had its challenges. Despite award-winning work in music videos (the Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Gabriel), he struggled in children’s TV (“Beakman’s World,” “Shining Time Station”). Then he found his own answer to Warhol’s Brillo boxes: wry, droll or superficial statements, often comments on the South or the venality of Hollywood (“Maybe Now I’ll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve”), scrambled on a canvas or meticulously emblazoned across cheesy landscape paintings. The Los Angeles restaurant Fred62 displayed the pictures, and soon the designer Todd Oldham was inspired to assemble a monograph of Mr. White’s work. “Bang!” Mr. White says. “I’m in the art world, just like that.”
There are other forces sustaining Mr. White: his wife, the graphic novelist Mimi Pond, and their children; his banjo and harmonica; and his connections to the South. Seeing Mr. White parading in an oversize Lyndon B. Johnson head mask or assembling a giant puppet with his Tennessee buddy Mike Quinn, we appreciate the liberating, delirious joy of creativity.
But this exuberant documentary’s most affecting message concerns a timelessly profound verity: the value of roots, humor, family and old friends.
Beauty Is Embarrassing
NYT Critic’s PickDirectorNeil BerkeleyWritersNeil Berkeley, Chris Bradley, Kevin KlauberStarsWayne White, Mimi Pond, Paul Reubens, Mark Mothersbaugh, Matt GroeningRatingNot RatedRunning Time1h 28mGenresDocumentary, Biography, Comedy
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A version of this article appears in print on , Section C, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: Far Beyond ‘Playhouse,’ Artist Remains Playful. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe