I can't wait for the new Blanton Museum of Art to open. We needed a big permanent collection in Austin, bad. AMOA tries, but it's dinky and can only house traveling exhibits, most of which are kind of rinky-dink anyway.
Vickie was appalled that Austin still didn't have a real art museum when she was up here in February. But the population here, while educated and I guess you could say arty, is also kind of transitory. We don't have a ton of old money here.
But now we finally have a museum, a real one, and I'm stoked to go look at art and drink Blantinis (Jen K says these are tasty orange cocktails with indeterminate ingredients) and see bands I like at the Extremely Grand Opening this weekend.
I'm still a little peeved that the undulating roof design didn't make the cut. I mean, look at this:
Extremely cool design proposal by Herzog and de Meuron that was nixed by the UT regents because they decided it was too kooky to fit in with the rest of UT's architecture, a lot of which is blocky, forbidding, and hideous to begin with. I try so hard not to be embarrassed of Texas, but sometimes that's just fucking impossible.
Ok, now look at this:
Actual design. Okay. Tasteful. Featureless.
Looks like just about every other structure the university's built in the past 10 years.
Sigh.
Well, it's what's on the inside that counts, right? I'm disappointed because it could have been so much cooler, but I'm still stoked. To art!