My First Visit

 I went to the Blanton Art Museum on Saturday 3/30 it was a beautiful morning in Austin and I have not been to the museum since it was renovated and t looks absolutely incredible. The museum is comprised of three buildings the ticketing and education building where the UT students go the exhibition building and an installation in the back titled “Austin” by Ellsworth Kelly.

Founded in 1963, the Blanton Art Museum holds the distinction of being one of the largest university museums in the United States. Its vast permanent collection is quite large, housing more than 21,000 works. This impressive collection includes significant holdings of modern and contemporary art, Latin American art, Old Master paintings, and a wide array of prints and drawings from Europe, the United States, and Latin America. The architectural design and layout of the museum, a masterpiece by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, further enhances the art viewing experience, seamlessly merging the exterior and interior spaces.

Stepping into the exhibition building, I was immediately drawn in by the first exhibit titled "The Floating World: Masterpieces of Edo Japan" from the Worcester Art Museum. This exhibit is a combination showcase of woodblock prints and paintings from Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868). Each piece seemed to transport me back in time, offering a beautiful  journey through Japan's cultural and historical landscape.

The museum's diverse collection offered a multitude of artworks, I looked at them all for a long time impressed with the intricate detailing and beautiful colors. However, one painting in particular was my favorite and most memorable. This was a woodblock print by the illustrious Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Captured at the bottom of a selection of artworks, this piece depicted a scene from the Japanese play "Mongaku at the Waterfall of Nachi." The narrative revolves around a man who, ridden with guilt for murdering his mistress, becomes a monk and seeks penance by reciting incantations to the god, the Immovable One, under a waterfall. This artwork, created before 1830, struck me with its intricate detailing and narrative depth. It made me reflect on how this style, born centuries ago, looks like it continues to inspire many modern-day comic creators.

The artwork that caught my eye the most during my visit was a contemporary neon sculpture by the talented artist Cauleen Smith. Crafted in 2019, this piece of art, has dimensions of 1063/4 × 68 × 5 inches, and has found its home upstairs in the museum's dedicated section for modern art. This neon sign is not just visually striking, but it also serves as a potent commentary on the pervasive issue of racial injustice.

The illuminated sculpture alternates between two phrases: “I will light you up” and “I will light up your life.” The first phrase is a reminder of the threat that a Texas State Trooper directed at Sandra Bland during a routine traffic stop. This incident tragically led to her untimely death in police custody in 2015. The second phrase is a tribute to the song “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone, a melody that has been famously reinterpreted by musical legends such as Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Smith cleverly uses the song's lyric as a calming antidote to the terrifying quote, thereby creating a juxtaposition between hope and fear. The artwork's colors, predominantly flashing red and blue, serve as a reminder of the police lights that have, unfortunately, become an unsettling symbol of racial injustice in our society.

Cauleen Smith, the creator of this artwork, is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and multimedia artist. Upon researching her biography, I discovered that Smith is a significant figure in the movement of "Afrofuturism." This is an emerging literary and cultural aesthetic that merges elements of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western cosmologies. The aim is not only to critique the present-day dilemmas faced by people of color but also to revise, interrogate, and re-examine historical events of the past.

I enjoyed my visit immensely I took my time and languished in the museums corridors finding it hard to pick just one or two pieces to focus on. The museum is truly diverse with many religious paintings to funky new sculptures and larger than life installations. I can't wait to go back and focus on another piece of art I did not spend as much time on.