Donald Judd In Marfa: A Critical Look at His Architectural Work Ten Years After His Passing

Donald Judd was at the forefront of a group of internationally renowned artists in the 1960’s who were researching and exploring a series of artistic and thematic concerns later to be defined by art historians as minimalism. In 1971, Judd left New York City for Marfa, Texas where he subsequently bought several properties, including many buildings associated with the defunct Fort D.A. Russell, a former US military outpost. Here, living and working until his death in 1994, Judd made his major contribution to architecture. Judd succeeded in preserving and reactivating these military buildings as well as other buildings in the town of Marfa and the surrounding area, transforming them for his private use and for permanent art installations of his and his colleagues’ artwork. The Artillery Sheds are one of Judd’s most compelling achievements. Judd transformed them into a permanent synthesis of art and architecture. His hundred milled aluminum pieces, installed in the sheds, forces the viewer to look, seeing what was unseen before his architectural intervention, displaying the permanent floor pieces through the ever changing light conditions in a harmony with landscape. This paper looks at how Donald Judd’s work altered and changed the culture, community and social life of a small town in the Southwest of the US. Did Judd’s ideas and ideals of interweaving art, architecture, and the culture of a small rural community stand the test of time? What lessons does Judd’s work hold for students in architecture?

Volume Editors
Marilys R. Nepomechie & Robert Gonzalez

ISBN
0-935502-54-8