The time has come to celebrate another Bobbledy birthday. This time, the kid in question is Vivien, whose favorite Bobbledy title is The Girl With Frogs in Her Ears. And Henny Wampum Had a Really Big Head. And Even Ninjas Eat Asparagus. She told me this with confidence and flair when I saw her a few months ago.
Vivien has shocking red hair and a mile-wide attitude. I admire here tremendously.
Here is the birthday picture she drew and sent to us. Isn’t it magnificent?
Let me just start by saying that Vivien is not, as you probably suspect, 48 years old and the holder of various degrees in fine art, art history, and anthropology. No. She is still a relatively young woman, and yet already exploring a daring combination of mixed media and abstract expressionism.
According to her father, a simple man named Victor, Crayola “rasperry” is Vivien’s marker of choice. Clearly, this preference has deeper metaphorical significance, but neither Victor nor I (a simple man in my own right) have any idea what it is.
Ditto the preponderance of cat stickers, which I suspect are part of the artist’s emerging critique against early 21st century domestic paradigms.
It is exciting indeed to contemplate what new techniques and media Vivien might explore in the weeks and months ahead. I will keep you posted.