American Pie  Popping off with Wayne Thiebaud  Wayne Thiebaud is
best known for painting pastry—and not even visually arresting
pastry. His pies and cakes just kind of sit there, looking
reasonably tasty but not seeming to do much else. He also paints
perfectly nice people and landscapes, too. Lots of beach scenes.
If you wandered into an exhibit of his work not knowing anything
about the guy, his paintings might seem about as interesting as
those unsigned prints they sell in big, plastic frames at Ross
for 17 bucks each—the stuff that's just supposed to hang
unobtrusively on your wall for a few years without clashing with
your couch. You could easily picture Thiebaud's work on display
in a bank, or printed on the front of the menu at a really nice,
outdoor café in Laguna Beach.  Thiebaud is an artist you have to
put in context to really appreciate. In 1962, the Pasadena Art
Museum debuted the historic "New Painting of Common Objects"
show, featuring Thiebaud's work alongside that of Andy Warhol,
Jim Dine, Ed