Artist Ellsworth Kelly tells the Observer of his signature works: “The abstract expressionists didn’t use colour so much, and I wanted to bring it back in some sense. What I also always say about them is that they found their picture as they made it – the process led to its shape – whereas I had to have the shape first.”

At 92, the abstract master is still working hard at his studio in Upstate New York. The ideas keep coming, including his first architectural project, a chapel in the process of being built for an estimated cost of $15 million in Texas.

The Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin began construction of Kelly’s Austin in October, and the building is projected to open to the public in late 2016 or early 2017. The 2,715-squarefoot stone structure⎯the only building ever designed by Kelly⎯ will include luminous colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and fourteen black-and-white stone panels in marble, all designed by the artist. The work will be sited on the Blanton’s grounds and, once realized, will become part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Also this year, a major new monograph on Kelly has been published by Phaidon Press. The book was created in close collaboration with the artist and is the first publication to cover his entire career, from the 1940s to today. It highlights all of Kelly’s major works, including the Blanton’s Austin.