American Modernism and ever-changing digital art at the Blanton

Above: “Flight of the Thielens,” Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975). “In September 1938, a disastrous hurricane barreled through a Martha’s Vineyard town…. Benton’s painting of the destructive storm depicts his neighbors – the painter Virginia Berresford, her husband, writer Benedict Thielen, and their cook, Josephine ‘Lucy’ Clarke – as they fled their home…. Unable to swim, Clarke was pulled out to sea by 25-foot waves…. Benton depicts her tragic final moments as she reaches up for help… just beyond Thielen’s grasp.” Blanton curatorial notes, “American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection.”

An interesting dip into American Modernism drawn from the private art collection of Charles Butt (Butt as in the “B” of H-E-B) is on loan to the Blanton Museum of Art until August 2. Eighty diverse works are assembled for the exhibition, “American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection.” A snapshot of these and several other current exhibits follows.

The rapacious appetite for natural resources resulted in industrial extraction processes that dramatically altered the country’s physical landscape. After World War II, the demands of mass production, living spaces, and long-distance transportation resulted in millions of rural acres converted to accommodate urban and suburban sprawl and roads and highways…. As artist Thomas Hart Benton stated, ‘We Americans are restless. We cannot stay put.’ Some artists took exploratory research trips across the country, visually depicting the rapidly changing environments to express their concerns…. Other artists focused on rural places and the land as a source of strength and optimism for the American psyche.”

Blanton curatorial notes for Charles Butt Collection

Above left: “The Intellectuals,” 1912-1914. Above Right: “Third Avenue El,” 1932. Both by Guy Pene du Bois (1884-1958).

Most of the painting I had done previously of the cliffs (behind Ghost Ranch in New Mexico) I had to do on location, while actually looking at the cliffs. This was the first time that I was able to paint them in my studio from memory – I was quite astonished and very proud of the little painting.”

Artist Georgia O’Keeffe referring to “My Backyard”

Above left: “Homework,” Milton Avery (1885-1965), 1946. Above right: “My Backyard,” Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), 1945.

Davis included gas pumps in at least 20 paintings and several prints. Recognizing the country’s growing obsession with automobiles, Davis also created cityscapes that include cars, gas stations, traffic signs, and highways.”

Blanton curatorial notes for Charles Butt Collection

Above left: “Down Penn. St.,” Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021), 1977. Right: “Gasoline Pump,” Stuart Davis (1892-1964), 1932.

These two vividly colored portraits reflect a post-revolutionary pride in Mexico’s Indigenous heritage and cultures…. the chiseled facial features of Tamayo’s family appear to be inspired by ancient Mesoamerican stone masks. In 1926, Tamayo included this painting in his first exhibition in New York, where he lived for the next 20 years.”

Blanton curatorial notes for Charles Butt Collection

Above left: “La Familia,” Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991), 1925. Right: “Lobster Fisherman’s Church by the Barrens,” Marsden Hartley (1877-1943), 1942.

Born in a rural community outside of Kiev, Ukraine, Louis Lozowick immigrated to New York at just 14 years old. Lozowick was in awe of the towering buildings he encountered upon arriving…. While his earlier works glorified American industry, the artist embraces a more naturalistic style in ‘Blast Furnace: Changing Shifts (Pittsburgh Landscape)’ to explore a more ominous relationship between the worker and the mechanics of industry that tower above them.”

Blanton curatorial notes for Charles Butt Collection

Above top left: “Where the Grass Grows Green,” Dale Nichols (1904-1995), 1939. Bottom left: “Blast Furnace: Changing Shifts,” Louis Lozowick (1892-1973), 1930. Middle: “Flour Mill,” Ralston Crawford (1906-1978), 1937. Top right: “Coal Elevators,” Crawford, 1934. Bottom right: “Industrial Scene,” Miklos Suba (1880-1944), 1930.

Fasten your seatbelt and slam on the brakes. Amazingly creative, complicated and attention-getting digital art flashes into view in galleries adjacent to the Butt Collection. Some works are ever-evolving combinations; others respond and are transformed by movements in the gallery. “Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation X Blanton Museum of Art” extends through August 2 as well.

What happens when code and data become the raw materials of art?

In ‘Run the Code,’ contemporary artists harness algorithms and generative AI models to create powerful, thought-provoking works that… transforms digital information into sensory works of art…. Though grounded in advanced technology, these artworks are deeply human, raising important questions for the digital age.”

Blanton Museum of Art website

More than 70 automobile headlights and taillights installed on a wall blink at you in Madeleine Hollander’s “Heads/Tails.” The choreographed illumination reflects actual rhythms of a Manhattan intersection, sometimes disrupted by erratic behavior of drivers.

The installation follows the logic of the intersection itself. Taillights turn on during red lights and switch off when traffic moves. Headlights remain illuminated but subtly brighten or dim at sunrise and sunset, mirroring the daily cycle of the city.”

Thoma Foundation and Blanton curatorial notes for “Heads/Tails”

Above: Still shot of “Heads/Tails: Walker & Broadway 4,” Madeline Hollander (1986-), 2020.

‘Recurrent Llull’ draws on the work of medieval philosopher Ramon Llull (1232-1316), who created one of the earliest mechanical systems for organizing thought. In the 13th century, Llull designed a set of rotating concentric diagrams intended to mechanically generate combinations of fundamental ideas…. Llull’s texts, in their original Latin and Old Catalan, are continuously recombined… without repetition.”

Thoma Foundation and Blanton curatorial notes for “Recurrent Llull”

Above: Screen grabs of “Recurrent Llull,” Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (1967-), 2019.

The site-specific responsiveness and interaction amazed me, having grown up during the dinosaur age. Unfolding like a Japanese screen depicting everyday life in a virtual village, Tokyo-based teamLab‘s “The World of Irreversible Change:”

…unfolds in real time, synchronized with its physical location in Austin, Texas. Day turns to night, weather reflects local conditions, and seasons past. Viewer interactions with the artwork influence the behaviors of its inhabitants.”

Thoma Foundation and Blanton curatorial notes for “The World of Irreversible Change“

Above and below: Screen grabs of teamLab’s “The World of Irreversible Change,” 2022.

For this work, Amadol trained the system on thousands of images of Gothic and Renaissance cathedrals…. The resulting forms appear as shifting, smoky architectural visions that continuously emerge and dissolve…. this process has become known as a ‘hallucination,’ borrowing a human metaphor to describe how the system imagines beyond what is seen.”

Blanton curatorial notes for “Machine Hallucinations – Study I”

Above: Screen grabs from “Machine Hallucinations – Scene I,” Refik Anadol (1985-), 2019.

‘Amalgama Phillips’ is created from 550 digital artworks held in the Phillips Collection…. Paintings from different periods merge, fragment, and reconfigure, collapsing distinctions between past and present.”

Thoma Foundation and Blanton curatorial notes for “Amalgama Phillips”

Above: Screen grabs from “Amalgama Phillips,” Daniel Canogar (1964-), 2021.

Above: Screen grabs from “Bouquet 1,” Jennifer Steinkamp (1958-), 2013.

Above: Screen grabs from “The Ruins,” Claudia Hart (1955-), 2020.

And there we were, Lamar stuck with many multiplications of me.

By the time we emerged from immersing ourselves in digital art, we found ourselves rushing through a few more of the Blanton’s galleries.

I was thinking about the division of labor along gender lines – who cleans up, who raises children, who bears children – and how I position myself along those boundaries as someone who wants to cross them.”

Artist Louis Fratino about his oil painting, “Among Women Only”

Above left: “Walter Cronkite Report from Viet Nam,” Tammy Nguyen (1984-), 2022. Right: “Among Women Only,” Louis Fratino (1993-), 2020.

While working as a live-in nanny in Beverly Hills, she noticed that luxury magazines featuring homes similar to the one she was working in were always devoid of the housekeepers, gardeners, and other worker who were essential to their care…. That experience… has fueled much of the artist’s practice since.”

Blanton curatorial notes about “The Broad” by Jay Lynn Gomez

Above left: “The Broad,” Jay Lynn Gomez (1986-), acrylic, 2016. Right: “Space In Between – Bisnaga (Sandra Castillo), Margarita Cabrera (1973-), 2016.

‘Bisnaga’ or barrel cactus, is one part of an ongoing series of works transforming U.S. Border Patrol uniforms into indigenous desert plants. Collaborating with refugee communities, the artist facilitates workshops for migrants to embroider their stories into the fabric of the artwork.”

Blanton curatorial notes about “Bisnaga” by Margarita Cabrera

And then we ran out of time. I long to witness night fall and bedtime in “The World of Irreversible Change.” And the head and taillights in that Broadway intersection at 2 a.m. I think I need a sleepover at the Blanton before “Run the Code” closes.