Today The Woman treated me to a surprise movie at the Angelika Theater – Art Bastard.

Art Bastard is a portrait of New York artist Bob Cenedella.

I had never heard of Cenedella before. 76 years old now, he grew up always knowing that he’d be an artist. He suffered from a less than happy child hood and family life. Fiercely independent, not bending to censors and critics, he spent the decades on painting controversial and often social critical or political scenes. His pictures are always full of people. He portrays the world like he sees it, and he sees it differently than you and I.

This movie tells the artist’s story, through his own words, and those of friends, critics, curators, and journalists who know him. Accompanied by an excellent classical sound track, we are treated to a feast of color and inspiration, and we literally feel the passion of the artist ooze out of him and his work.

When the credits rolled I sat there in reverie, and then I said:

I gotta go home and paint something!