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THE TOWN THAT JUDD BUILT<br />
If you were searching for nowhere, you would end up within<br />
spitting distance of Marfa, Texas. More than six hours‘ drive<br />
from anything resembling a city, this former military outpost in the<br />
wilds of the American Southwest began its transformation into<br />
an art mecca in the 1970s when Donald Judd moved here from<br />
New York. In the empty expanses of Marfa’s rugged terrain, the<br />
minimalist artist found a landscape that suited his work—as well<br />
as that of friends and peers like Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain,<br />
Richard Long, and Claes Oldenburg. Judd purchased much of the<br />
former military infrastructure and used it to found, among other<br />
things, THE CHINATI FOUNDATION (chinati.org), an art museum<br />
that brought the Texas backwater to national prominence. More<br />
recently, the far-flung village (population c 1,981) has become<br />
a must-visit destination for the global art cognoscenti, complete with<br />
multiple museums, a burgeoning culinary scene, and a decent<br />
hotel or two. But the focus remains on the experience of the art, just<br />
as Judd intended. At such an exceptional remove from the concerns<br />
of daily life, you can’t help but spend hours wandering between<br />
the sculptures that are sutured into the harsh desert or exploring the<br />
cavernous spaces that house everything from contemporary<br />
masterpieces to Rembrandt etchings. It’s a place entirely out of<br />
time—and one perfectly of our time as well.<br />
Opening page: Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete, 1980-1984, were the first pieces to be installed at the<br />
Chinati Foundation<br />
Previous page: Things That Happen Again: For a Here and a There, 1986-1991, an installation of two copper cones<br />
by Roni Horn<br />
Facing page: Untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016, is artist Robert Irwin’s only permanent, freestanding structure, set in an<br />
abandoned army hospital<br />
Following page: The Architecture Studio in Marfa has repurposed the former Marfa National Bank and houses a range<br />
of works highlighted by 20th-century masters such as Josef Albers and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe<br />
79 NetJets
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