Install Theme
Feliciano Centurion Luz divina del alma [Divine Light of the Soul], circa 1996 Hand embroidered pillow Museum purchase with funds provided by Donald R. Mullins, Jr., 2004 Few objects are as intimate and common as a pillow. Pillows are associated primarily with rest, but they also evoke love, sex, and illness. All four connotations emanate from small pillows whose covers Feliciano Centurión embroidered at the hospital where he received treatment for the HIV-related complications that led to his early death. Like other artists associated with the “light” aesthetic in Buenos Aires during the 1990s, Centurión embraced kitsch and rejected the distinction between craft and art. He also subverted conventional gender roles by using embroidery, a medium that is traditionally considered women’s work and reflects a delicate, feminized aesthetic. Here the overblown sentimentality of the phrase that constitutes the title, stitched below a pair of oversized blue eyes with frilly lace lashes, is both comic and poignant. The eyes humanize the pillow and invite one to read adoration, longing, sadness, fear, or peaceful acceptance into its gaze. Centurión’s careful embellishment of pillows makes them repositories for poetic reflections presented with a gentle sense of humor.

Feliciano Centurion

Luz divina del alma [Divine Light of the Soul], circa 1996

Hand embroidered pillow

Museum purchase with funds provided by Donald R. Mullins, Jr., 2004

Few objects are as intimate and common as a pillow. Pillows are associated primarily with rest, but they also evoke love, sex, and illness. All four connotations emanate from small pillows whose covers Feliciano Centurión embroidered at the hospital where he received treatment for the HIV-related complications that led to his early death. Like other artists associated with the “light” aesthetic in Buenos Aires during the 1990s, Centurión embraced kitsch and rejected the distinction between craft and art. He also subverted conventional gender roles by using embroidery, a medium that is traditionally considered women’s work and reflects a delicate, feminized aesthetic. Here the overblown sentimentality of the phrase that constitutes the title, stitched below a pair of oversized blue eyes with frilly lace lashes, is both comic and poignant. The eyes humanize the pillow and invite one to read adoration, longing, sadness, fear, or peaceful acceptance into its gaze. Centurión’s careful embellishment of pillows makes them repositories for poetic reflections presented with a gentle sense of humor.

Through the Eyes of Texas

utaustinschoolofarch:

In case you didn’t notice, we like to post upcoming events and happenings around Austin that are fun AND educational. And this happens to be one of them: we are so excited to go see the upcoming Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks of Alumni Collections, which runs February 24-May 19, 2013 at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Featuring nearly 200 pieces—ranging from ancient objects to modern and contemporary works and everything in between—all of these artworks are from the private collections of University of Texas alumni. We think this is going to be a spectacular show, so be sure put it on your calendars now.

Also, our friends at the Blanton will be celebrating the big 5-0 this year. They’re offering a special gift for those who join or renew their Blanton membership during the run of the aforementioned show. You’ll also get a discount to attend the after party, Gold a Go-Go, for the fiftieth anniversary celebration on February 16 [with cupcakes and cocktails available, this could be a really sweet treat for your Valentine].

Become a member today, and be sure to see this exhibition in just a few weeks!

Two beautiful portraits, one dated to the 2nd century A.D. and one from the twentieth century, come together in the Blanton exhibition Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni Collections, opening February 24.

This special exhibition of nearly 200 extraordinary objects will survey the art collections of University of Texas at Austin alumni from across the country. Ancient Mayan vessels, tribal masks, Chinese jade, Renaissance paintings, and Old Master prints and drawings will be showcased alongside modern and contemporary art by major artists such as Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Andy Warhol.

Image Captions:

Top:

Unknown (Roman)

Head of A Goddess, 2nd century A.D.

Marble

San Antonio Museum of Art, Bequest of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., 2005.1.79

Bottom:

John William Godward

Bellezza Pompeiana, 1909

Oil on Canvas

Private Collection

Photo courtesy of Richard Green Gallery, London

Monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery created a beautiful sand mandala symbolizing the road to Enlightenment in the Blanton’s Rapoport Atrium. After five days of intricate work, the completed mandala was displayed for 30 minutes before being disassembled and dispersed into Waller Creek in a closing ceremony that represented the impermanence of all that exists.

See more photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blantonmuseum/sets/72157632519403675

El Anatsui Seepage, 2007 Aluminum and Copper Wire Promised Gift of Jeanne and Michael Klein, 2008 El Anatsui celebrates the beauty and possibility found in everyday materials. After flattening the aluminum wrappers from local Nigerian-brand liquor bottles and folding their edges, the artist and his team of assistants use copper wire to tie the small strips of metal together. The time-intensive process transforms what would otherwise be discarded materials into undulating and reflective hanging sculptures. Fun Fact: The artist named the work on-site at the museum in 2011, when the Blanton hosted his first retrospective exhibition, El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa.

El Anatsui

Seepage, 2007

Aluminum and Copper Wire

Promised Gift of Jeanne and Michael Klein, 2008

El Anatsui celebrates the beauty and possibility found in everyday materials. After flattening the aluminum wrappers from local Nigerian-brand liquor bottles and folding their edges, the artist and his team of assistants use copper wire to tie the small strips of metal together. The time-intensive process transforms what would otherwise be discarded materials into undulating and reflective hanging sculptures.

Fun Fact: The artist named the work on-site at the museum in 2011, when the Blanton hosted his first retrospective exhibition, El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa.

Circle of Simon Vouet Danae, 17th-century Oil on canvas The Suida-Manning Collection On view now in the exhibition Restoration and Revelation, this 17th-century canvas by the Circle of Simon Vouet depicts Danae, mother of Perseus by Zeus. The central figure could only be identified as Danae after a cleaning process uncovered Zeus at the top of the composition. In this case, conservation efforts not only protected this beautiful work, but also revealed its dynamic mythological narrative.

Circle of Simon Vouet

Danae, 17th-century

Oil on canvas

The Suida-Manning Collection

On view now in the exhibition Restoration and Revelation, this 17th-century canvas by the Circle of Simon Vouet depicts Danae, mother of Perseus by Zeus. The central figure could only be identified as Danae after a cleaning process uncovered Zeus at the top of the composition. In this case, conservation efforts not only protected this beautiful work, but also revealed its dynamic mythological narrative.

Abel Barroso Internet de madera [Wooden Internet], 2000 Wood, Ink, Paper Gift of Fran Magee and Gallery 106, 2003 Abel Barroso’s work uses humor and a low-tech interpretation of modern communications to comment on contemporary Cuban society and politics. Barroso, who trained as a printmaker, constructs his sculptures from used wood printing blocks that are themselves made from everyday materials such as plywood packing cases.

Abel Barroso

Internet de madera [Wooden Internet], 2000

Wood, Ink, Paper

Gift of Fran Magee and Gallery 106, 2003

Abel Barroso’s work uses humor and a low-tech interpretation of modern communications to comment on contemporary Cuban society and politics. Barroso, who trained as a printmaker, constructs his sculptures from used wood printing blocks that are themselves made from everyday materials such as plywood packing cases.

cavetocanvas: Thomas Moran, The Golden Hour, 1875 From the Blanton Museum of Art: Thomas Moran’s romanticized view of the towering cliffs of the Green River in southwestern Wyoming is notable for the operatic power of its imagery, despite the picture’s modest scale. An impossibly fiery sunset suffuses the jagged outcroppings in a golden light that exaggerates the glories and grandeur of nature. Americans back east were eager to discover the uninhabited western landscape through paintings like this and through reproductions. To make an even more compelling picture, Moran took certain liberties with features of the undeniably spectacular landscapes he observed on his trips to Wyoming during the summers of 1871 and 1872. Loosely and impressionistically painted, The Golden Hour is neither a major nor a typical work by Moran, but its magical intensity successfully communicates the artist’s deep fondness for the first western site he ever sketched.  One of our visitor favorites!

cavetocanvas:

Thomas Moran, The Golden Hour, 1875

From the Blanton Museum of Art:

Thomas Moran’s romanticized view of the towering cliffs of the Green River in southwestern Wyoming is notable for the operatic power of its imagery, despite the picture’s modest scale. An impossibly fiery sunset suffuses the jagged outcroppings in a golden light that exaggerates the glories and grandeur of nature. Americans back east were eager to discover the uninhabited western landscape through paintings like this and through reproductions. To make an even more compelling picture, Moran took certain liberties with features of the undeniably spectacular landscapes he observed on his trips to Wyoming during the summers of 1871 and 1872. Loosely and impressionistically painted, The Golden Hour is neither a major nor a typical work by Moran, but its magical intensity successfully communicates the artist’s deep fondness for the first western site he ever sketched. 

One of our visitor favorites!

(via caravaggista)