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Indepth Arts News:
"The Essential Donald Judd"
2001-08-12 until 2001-12-09
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, MN,
USA
Donald Judd (1928-1994) was one of the
foremost practitioners of Minimal Art,
which had its apex in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. In the wake of Abstract
Expressionism and its highly subjective,
mystical focus, Judd and other
Minimalists sought to create a
depersonalized art in which the physical
properties of space, scale, and materials
were explored as phenomena of interest
on their own, rather than as metaphors for
human experience. A shape, a volume, a
color, a surface is something itself, Judd
wrote. It shouldn't be concealed as part
of a fairly different whole.
Donald Judd (1928-1994) was one of the
foremost practitioners of Minimal Art,
which had its apex in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. In the wake of Abstract
Expressionism and its highly subjective,
mystical focus, Judd and other
Minimalists sought to create a
depersonalized art in which the physical
properties of space, scale, and materials
were explored as phenomena of interest
on their own, rather than as metaphors for
human experience. A shape, a volume, a
color, a surface is something itself, Judd
wrote. It shouldn't be concealed as part
of a fairly different whole.
The Essential Donald Judd features a
small but choice group of objects and prints drawn from the Walker's permanent
collection. Highlights include the newly restored untitled (1971), a group of six
large-scale aluminum cubes that is rarely exhibited due to its size, and an important
portfolio of 30 woodblock prints that will be presented for the first time since its
acquisition.
In the 1960s, Judd became well known for sleek, boxlike
constructions made of industrial materials such as
plywood, sheet metal, and plexiglass that were painted
using commercial techniques. Stacked, aligned,
cantilevered, or centered, their strict geometric
arrangements--often derived from mathematical
progressions--eliminate the idea of composition and
achieve a singular focus on the object itself. They
combine elements of architecture, sculpture, and painting,
and though they are resolutely three-dimensional, Judd
refused to call them sculpture, a term he associated with
the hand-crafted art of an earlier era. Instead, he referred
to them as specific objects--a phrase meant to suggest
their neutral, discrete nature.
Because of limited exhibition space, much of the work on
view in this exhibition is rarely seen by the public. By
bringing together these key sculptures and works on
paper, The Essential Donald Judd presents a rare
opportunity for viewers to explore this artist's ideas and
objects through the extraordinary depth of the Walker's permanent collection.
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