Category: austin

American Modernism and ever-changing digital art at the Blanton

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A colorful stamp featuring abstract artwork by Marsden Hartley, with bold geometric shapes and vibrant colors, labeled 'forever' and 'usa'.

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.

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Time to spread Bottlecap cheer

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“I Guess It’s Christmas,” Bottlecap Mountain

A holiday classic from Austin-based Bottlecap Mountain that you’ll want on your playlist year after year.

Protecting the identity of the pothole patcher

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A stamp featuring an abstract painting by Marsden Hartley, displaying vibrant colors and geometric shapes, labeled "Marsden Hartley | forever | usa".

Above: Street artist Ememem repairing a pothole in a sidewalk on Rainey Street in Austin

I’m just a sidewalk poet…. My work is the story of the city, where cobblestones have been displaced.”

Street artist Ememem, interviewed by Arnesia Young for My Modern Met

Sometimes I feel like a stalker on the trail of tile mosaics of the sidewalk poet of Lyon, France. (See the photos from 18 months ago at the bottom of this post.) So meeting Ememem in person at work Sunday afternoon in Austin left me gobsmacked.

Colorful mosaic artwork reading 'Here Lies a Pothole,' installed in a sidewalk as a creative repair by the street artist Ememem.

Above: “Here Lies a Pothole,” Ememem, Rainey Street, Austin, 2025

The street doctor tries to maintain his anonymity, stealthily installing his mosaics in the dead of night. I imagine that’s due to the fact that often his sidewalk improvement projects are unauthorized.

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