"What You See is What You See" features work by seminal artists including Jo Baer, Frank Stella, Robert Ryman and Sol Lewitt, as well as Donald Judd, whose influence is indelibly stamped on the Texas town of Marfa. The exhibition merges the McNay's decades-in-the-making collection of Minimalist and Conceptual artwork with Austin art collector John M. Parker, Jr.'s private collection, which Parker donated to the museum in 2017. Many of the pieces on display have never before been on view at the McNay.
"This exhibition spotlights the simple and formal beauty of art in its barest essentials," McNay Curator of Prints and Drawings Lyle Williams said in a statement. "The artworks on view don’t try to tell a story or convince us of anything other than simply what we see, which is the inspiration for the exhibition title."
In a nod to the intertwined nature of music and modern art, a piano has been placed in the center of the exhibition, and McNay staff members will periodically sit at the instrument to perform John Cage's infamous composition 4'33".
"What You See is What You See" is on view through May 17, 2020.
$10-$20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays, McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., (210) 824-5368, mcnayart.org.
