A Look Behind: Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin

The most exciting event in the Austin art world is coming up with the unveiling of Ellsworth Kelly’s highly anticipated chapel-like building titled “Austin” at the Blanton Museum of Art. The famed painter, printmaker, and sculptor explores four motifs in the stunning structure — spectrum, Black and White, Color Grid, and Totem. The 2,715-square-foot building will feature luminous colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and 14 black-and-white stone panels in marble. “An intimate stone building with vaulted ceilings and brilliant colored glass windows, Austin will be realized on the grounds of the Blanton and will serve as an alluring gateway, connecting the city and The University of Texas at Austin,” Blanton director Simone Wicha says. “To be built along the sight lines of the State Capitol, Austin will be nestled within one of the largest green spaces on the university’s campus.” The Museum will celebrate the February opening with a temporary exhibit, “Form into Spirit: Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin,” which will show how the concept for the structure first came about back in the late 1940s and early ’50s, when Kelly was living in France. The first models and designs for the building were created in the mid-1980s. Said Kelly to The New York Times in 2015, when the project was announced: “Go there and rest your eyes, rest your mind. Enjoy it.”

_{Read more from the Arts Issue | November 2017}