Aaron Zajicek

Art Critique

98/A

Good work! Excellent research and writing.

On June 22, 2009, I went to the Blanton Museum of Art located on the
University of Texas at Austin campus. This was the first time to visit the recently
established museum. Since the museum was located at a major university I was
excited to view the exhibitions of art because I figured they would have a large
amount of amazing works.

Upon entering the Blanton, one has the choice of advancing to one’s left and
viewing the exhibit in the temporary gallery or proceeding up the stairwell to the
second floor to view the permanent collection. I decided to first examine the
temporary gallery which currently displays the Latin American exhibit Francisco
Matto: The Modern and the Mythic. I learned that this exhibit is the first
comprehensive collection of works produced by the Uruguayan artist Francisco
Matto displayed in the United States. The museum describes the exhibit in the
following manner: “the show examines the rise of modernist abstraction in Latin
America — underscoring both the similarities and differences between Europe and
South America — and chronicles Matto's early work made as a student of Joaquín
Torres-Garcia through his late work of the 1990s.”

As I walked through the rooms browsing the works of Matto, I noticed that the
exhibition consisted primarily of painting and sculptures. I learned from the
museum information on the artist that he termed his sculptures to be either
“totems” or “constructions”, and I could clearly distinguish both types in the exhibit.
Also I noticed that the paint on his artworks were mostly the result of restricted
palette of intense colors. I really enjoyed the way they jumped off the medium as
one viewed them. I also noticed that he had a continuum in the range of paintings,
from naturalist to abstract and some that seemed to fall somewhere in between.
Those that I categorized as in between often were often of objects that were overly
simplified to just the basic shape of what was being portrayed. Furthermore I noted
that several of the paintings portrayed the artist’s home city of Montevideo.

The piece of artwork produced by Francisco Matto that I found most intriguing
was Composition on Black Background. It is an abstract painting measuring 15 x 18
inches that was produced by oils on a cardboard background in 1958. In order to
visual the painting one should imagine a white pound sign (#) with a red outline
placed on a black background with the left forks closer together along with the
upper forks. In the middle of the white lines of the pound sign is a strip of blue. Also
the middle of the so called pound sign does not have a black center but would
actually be filled in with the white and blue and the blue lines connect to make five
rectangles of varying size. Inside of these there are smaller yellow rectangles
outlines in red. One of these has two black and blue oval shapes in it while another
one is divided in two by black. Also there are black lines on the white between blue
and red lines. Furthermore in the top left hand black square reads in white MATTO
58. Also none of these lines are perfect strait lines but rather are mixture on colors
as one was painted over the other and have crooked bends as one would expect
long brush strokes performed by a hand.

I really love this painting because it seems like it could have been done in
about ten minutes, yet it seems so well thought out that I know it likely took longer.
The painting style has a definite color pattern as certain colors were place next to
other certain colors. Also I can’t but help love the vividly bright colors that contrast
against the black. Then there is the middle that deviates from the outer workings of
the painting. Obviously there is something important occurring here as this is where
one’s eyes are drawn when looking at the painting due to the meshing of the blue
lines. It makes me think of a town where roads meet in a common place where
people meet in the middle to collaborate and exchange goods. Of course I brought
in my own experience when analyzing this painting of me living far from town and
my reliance of roads to take me to and from markets. I felt I could really connect to
this painting which is why I it became my favorite of the many works of Francisco
Matto.

After viewing the vivid works of Matto, I continued back into the foyer and up
the stairs to the permanent collections. Immediately I was drawn to the European
paintings hanging on the walls, many of which were from the Renaissance period.
The paintings on display were of varying sized with some being fairly small while
others rather large that almost covered an entire wall. As I expected there were
many depictions of religious scenes and figures. The paintings were well spaced
within the rooms as too not overcrowd the observer’s eyes. Also in many rooms
there were cushioned benches, especially in rooms with large paintings, that one
could relax on and observe the art.

Soon I discovered a very peculiar and rather odd painting titled Saint Agatha
with dimensions of 75.7 cm x 64.1 cm. It was a painted by an Italian named Orazio
Riminaldi in the mid 1620s with oils on canvass. The painting depicts a young lady,
Saint Agatha, sitting at a table holding a rather large pair of scissors in her hands.
She wears a brown and golden dress that droops to the top of her bust line with
white undergarments. She also wears a double looped pearl necklace and her hair
in up. Her face shows an innocent look as her eyes peer in to your eyes. The
background is shade black so that the focus is on her and the platter sitting on the
table in the foreground. Sitting on the platter there are two rather large and
perfectly shaped breasts.
 At first I was confused why the artist would portray the cleaved breast as
plump and perfect as they would surely not look that way when severed. Also I
noticed there was no blood on them and none displayed on the scissors. However
upon reading the nearby excerpt that female figures of devotional or allegorical
subject were common during his time, I came to the realization the artist was trying
to emphasize. He wanted to portray the devotional aspect of the breast severing
perform by Saint Agatha. Obviously there must have been emotional and physical
pain from the torture she went through but he did not depict her as weak, but
rather strong such as one would be a devotion to the Lord.

Eventually, it was getting late and the museum would be closing soon so I
decided to skip some of the room and move on to the gallery of the Americas. Most
of the art in this section was contemporary pieces produced by artist from North
and South America. The art displayed in this exhibition ranged from painting to
prints to video to sculptures. I had finally discovered the full range of art in this
gallery. The placement of the artwork was perfect for each piece as some large
pieces were alone in a room while sculptures were placed in the middle for viewing
from a full range of angles.

It was in this exhibit that I discovered my most favorite piece of art in the
entire museum. Standing alone in a dark room by itself was a three-dimensional
installation entitled Missão/Missões [How to Build Cathedrals]. The artist is Cildo
Meireles and she built his “cathedral” in 1987. This piece is comprised of 2000
cattle bones that hang from the ceiling. On the floor are 80 paving stones that make
a square border that is 13 by 13 stones on the outside and is two stones wide. In
the middle of the stones are 600,000 coins. In the middle of the work there are 800
communion wafers bound together with string that reach down from the bones to
the coins. The only light in the room shines down through the bones and radiates
brilliantly off the coins below. On the outside there is black cloth in which one can
see through which causes an ominous and eerie glow from a distance. One can
enter through the cloth and walk on the stones. I feel the sight is magnificent and
boldly sends the message the artist’s is trying to convey.

According to the museum, Meireles is known for building art with social or
political critiques. He built this art as to make a reference to the Jesuit mission in
the seventeenth and eighteenth century in parts of Southern America to convert
indigenous people. However he is critical of these missions that resulted in the
wonderful cathedrals in the areas. He feels that these missions were not about
saving souls but rather were about economics. Therefore he built his own
“cathedral” to expose the missions. He used communion wafers to connect the
exploitation of agriculture, shown by the cattle bones, to the wealth gained, shown
by the coins, in the name of religion. Whether one agrees with the message or not,
the piece of art continues to be amazing piece to observe.
 In conclusion, I enjoyed my three hour visit to the Blanton Museum of Art and
found the art very pleasant. However I was shocked that I had spent three hours in
the museum and had not seen everything. I would definitely suggest for one to visit
the museum and to go early to have plenty time to observe everything. The Blanton
really does have a great range of art work from all over the world and really has
neat pieces from artist in South America. I know I plan to return again in the near
future and can’t wait to observe all the pieces I have not seen and those that I have
once more.