Book Description
One of the leading representatives of Minimalism, Donald Judd's "specific objects," made of steel, wood, aluminum, and Plexiglass, undertook a radical and revolutionary analysis and redefinition of sculpture as it exists in space. Somewhat less familiar are Judd's numerous architectural and furniture designs, works which are closely related in formal terms to his ubiquitous art objects but which much more successfully reflect his concerns with utility. To best understand this aspect of Judd's work, a visit to Marfa, Texas is in order. In 1971, Judd bought an old fort near this small town; by systematically acquiring and transforming more and more local property, he amassed the largest ensemble of contemporary art in the world, with permanent installations of his own work and that of Carl Andre, John Chamberlan, Dan Flavin, and others. "Donald Judd: Architecture" presents drawings, design sketches, ground plans, and photographs of the grounds and architecture of this Minimalist desert oasis, and bears witness to Judd's role as the visionary architect and stage director of his own oeuvre. This book first appeared in 1991, in German. It has been thoroughly revised and expanded for this, its first English edition. "Art and architecture--all the arts--do not have to exist in isolation, as they do now. This fault is very much a key to the present society. Architecture is nearly gone, but it, art, all the arts, in fact all parts of the society, have to be rejoined, and joined more than they have ever been. This would be democratic in a good sense, unlike the present increasing fragmentation into separate but equal categories." --Donald Judd
Edited by Peter Noever, of MAK, Vienna. Essays by Donald Judd, Rudi Fuchs, Brigitte Huck.
Edited by Peter Noever, of MAK, Vienna. Essays by Donald Judd, Rudi Fuchs, Brigitte Huck.
8.75 x 11.5 in.
25 color, 84 b/w illustrations
English/German
About the author
Donald Judd was born in 1928. Convinced that Abstract Expressionism had deteriorated into fakery, Judd began around 1960 to search for an art free of falsehood. In search of a greater simplicity and clarity, he evolved a formal vocabulary of identical rectangular units constructed of industrial materials. He died in 1994.
