managed to make the reception for the matisse exhibit at MOMA. the beautiful people and those that fund them were out in force and the booze was free and the frankenthaler piece (chairman of the board) looked better than any number of sunsets, next to rodin's Balzac... interesting to me to muse on the helen F. on the night of the biggest matisse show in years... the color, the daring form. it's all there. and on and on...

but this should be about henri- not helen F. or ocean park or anything else, picasso included.

over the years, i've come to grips how much matisse has meant to me and my own work. initially, much of the influence was, perhaps, second hand. but his is an influence that radiates more now, in this post-post-modern era-- the re-working, the process, the energy...

suffice to say that, great as picasso was, matisse is (to my eye) the father of what we dare to achieve today in this world of art.

he dared to find beauty in the vast space that became newman and rothko and serra...