Landmarks, the University of Texas’ curated public art program, has just landed two high-profile pieces from the late conceptual and minimalist artist Sol LeWitt. Circle with Towers and Drawing #520 will be added to the Landmarks collection, to displayed in the entrance and auditorium of the Bill & Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex and Dell Computer Science Hall.
“Sol LeWitt is one of the truly great artists to have emerged from minimalism and conceptualism in the arts,” Douglas Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said in a statement.
“Circle with Towers and Wall Drawing #520 are perfect, post-modern celebrations of the promise and future of computer science and the latest triumph for the Landmarks collection. These two pieces are among the very most important art acquisitions in the university’s vast holdings.”
Circle with Towers stands 14 feet tall and spans 25 feet. The eight towers are arranged as a meeting ground for the public. The piece was acquired from Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York. Drawing #520 was acquired directly from DeWitt’s estate and its forthcoming display will be the first in 25 years, when it was a part of The Whitney Museum of Art’s 1987 Whitney Biennial.
“Circle with Towers and Wall Drawing #520 provide an important introduction to the nature of conceptual art for many in our community,” Landmarks director Andrée Bober said in a statement. “Having these two works in close proximity allows viewers to recognize the consistent elements in LeWitt’s work and appreciate the collaborative spirit and contextual interpretations of his ideas.”
LeWitt, considered to be the founder of the conceptual and minimalist postwar art movements, was known for his geometric, three-dimensional structures of varying sizes and for the more than 1200 drawings he completed. And while his dedication to rendering art in its most basic shapes and colors made him a celebrity of sorts in the art world, he was known for being a reclusive creator, rarely seen.
“His [LeWitt’s] work exhibits classic virtues of high art — beauty, precision, mastery of materials, economy of means, signature inspiration — while at the same time being completely iconoclastic and playful,” Dempster said.
The pieces are on display now on the UT campus. Landmarks will be holding a free public lecture in the computer science complex about LeWitt by Blanton Museum of Art curator and former director of research for the Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing Catalogue Raisonné Veronica Roberts Thursday, March 21 at 5 p.m.
Circle with Tower.
Mesmerize shared this photo thanking Inne Aguilar for her work.