I have to confess I didn't know anything about Donald Judd. I had promised myself to read at least his wiki, but there was never enough time. So when we entered the first building and I saw a bunch of cubes, I was resigned to the fact that I know nothing about modern art and that the whole visit was going to be a waste of time. Our guide gave us minimal information and this made me even more frustrated.
There were 100 aluminum cubes, 52 in the first building and 48 in a second. They were made of the same size, were perfectly aligned and evenly spaced in three rows. Each one was unique. Some had a panel missing or only half of it, some had panels set at different levels or at different angles. The warehouse had large windows on both sides casting shadows from the cubes and their own frames on the cement floor at regular intervals. The light was shining on the cubes, giving various shades of grey to the partitions in the cubes. If a section was closed, the front area was dark grey, and if it was open was light grey.
Looking at a cube was like seeing a two dimensional geometrical design with geometrical parts of different shades. But as you walk around it, the design changes at every step. The panel position was playing with my sight. Some looked so shiny and light that they seemed to be made of glass. Each panel reflected lines and shades from another panel creating more geometrical forms. It was genius! The stillness of the metal cubes was in contrast with the environment surrounding them which was changing. The cubes were going to look differently in shapes and colors depending on whether it was dawn or dusk, day or night, with a full moon or in lightning storm. Can you imagine?
I could have walked around those cubes forever. It was mesmerizing, it was beautiful!
We weren't allowed to take pictures.
Outside there was west Texas, the chihuahua desert, flat, dry, with cotton trees. There were more bigger cubes made in cement laying out there. More symmetry, more beauty.
We took the 4 hour tour with a two hour interval to check out the cubes in cement out there.
The Chinati foundation (named after the local mountains) was Donald Judd's vision, the first large scale permanent art museum. He had seen this area in his youth and when it was time to escape the claustrophobia of New York City, he remembered it and came back to set roots. He bought the abandoned cavalry post of Fort D.A. Russell which sits in 340 acres and includes eighteen buildings, that once served as army barracks, mess halls, artillery sheds.
These buildings host more artists which we got to visit and get to know. We saw one installation that occupied six buildings by Dan Flavin with florescent tubes. We found out that light mixes color differently than paint. It was engaging and beautiful.
We saw a temporary exhibition of wall paintings by Bridget Riley.
There were other permanent exhibitions, each in its own dedicated building.
The Carl Andre zen garden with rows of copper plates was enclosed in a horse shape building courtyard. Ingólfur Arnarsson had a series of 36 small graphite drawings. They looked like they were made of one grey tone, but in fact the artist had drawn so many cross-hatched lines that they appear to be of one color. I see why Judd liked him so much. They did not like to be classified as minimalists. Minimalism can be complex, but not complicated.
Roni Horn had two solid copper truncated cones, bigger side facing the entrance.
I really liked the work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov of schoolhouse number 6, the replica of an abandoned Russian school. There was so much: the daily life, the treasuring of small things, the bickering, the broken promises, the past, the effort to accomplish the tasks. Loved it!
Other artists were John Wesley, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, and David Rabinowitch (https://chinati.org/collection/).
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| Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in memory of old Louie |
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| Ilya and Emilia Kabakov School n.6 |
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| Richard Long sea lava circled. It was supposed to be from tallest rock to smallest as a drop, but not according to Judd |
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| Furniture by Judd |
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| David Rabinowitch |
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| Judd solarium |
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| Judd Jacuzzi |
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| remnants from the fort times |
After lunch we went to visit John Chamberlain's and Robert Irwin's buildings.
John Chamberlain's was in town in a former wool building and had 23 of his pieces made of car metal parts.
One was a giant bed covered in parachute material. There were two old TVs on each side showing a porno movie with Ultraviolet (Andy Warhol's collaborator) impersonating Monte Zuma, having a good time with another artist impersonating Hernán Cortés the conquistador. Funny that the conquistador is not naked. Aaaah the seventies and women's lib!?
We had to drive to see the Robert Irwin's 'Dawn to Dusk' largest work. It was in the old hospital of the fort, a U-shaped building with a sculpture as a tableau of large basalt columns in the middle of the courtyard. The left side is dedicated to Dawn and the right to Dusk. It is divided by wall of scrim that filter light from the rows of windows on each side. There is so much to it, it has to be experienced. You can walk it from one side to the other, but you can start from the middle for both sides (personal choice).
At night we needed a good drink to ponder over all we saw. So we went to the Paisano Restaurant. With a name like this, usually I steer clear in disdain. But you cannot go by your guts all the time.
It was the best dinner and best cocktail in a long time, with the bonus of the cool ambiance with large black and white pictures from the movie Giant hanging on the walls.
