Landmarks, a book celebrating 10 years of UT Austin’s eponymous public art program, came out from The University of Texas Press in December.
At 160 pages and including more than 200 color images, it’s a good guide to the wide-ranging collection that can be seen all across the Austin campus. The inside back cover features a map showing the locations of all the works.
The meat of the book is made up of brief articles on each of the pieces in the collection. The articles are informative about the works and the artists, and the accompanying photos are stunning.
Indeed the book makes plain the high level of art that the Landmarks program has brought to UT in just 10 years — a short time to build a world-class collection. The art lover who hasn’t visited UT recently may be surprised to discover works by James Turrell, Sol LeWitt, Louise Bourgeois, Mark di Suvero, and others. This book can, and should, serve as a guide to help lure art lovers to Austin.
If the book has one failing, it’s that it lacks information about the decision process regarding how each work was selected for the place on campus it now occupies. To me, one of the things that makes the Landmarks program wonderful is the interaction of the art with the living campus, that environment full of different kinds of learning, different kinds of architecture, and most importantly, different kinds of people. I think this book could be taken to the next level by the inclusion of such a discussion. Perhaps the next edition will go for it.
The book is a high-quality paperback, and retails for $19.95.
artsarticulated.com 