Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Back from Marfa

I'm back. Had the most wonderful holiday in New Mexico and West Texas. If you're thinking about heading out that way, I can highly recommend southern New Mexico, especially the strip of desert from White Sands National Monument, in the west, over to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the east. It's much less touristy than, and just as beautiful as, the well-travelled strip between Santa Fe and Taos. The place to stay is the Hurd Ranch in San Patricio. Talk about value: for $140 a night, you get an entire house on acres of land, complete with large sitting room, wood-burning fireplace with lots of wood, kitchen, bedroom, porch, barbecue, amazing views, everything. The scenery is lovely (and makes for a nice walk to the top of the hill, too), and the whole atmosphere is utterly relaxing. There are bigger houses, too, if you want to take a group.

From there we moved on to Marfa. I've always been more of a Carl Andre fan than a Donald Judd fan, but the two big Judd pieces at Marfa are indisputably two of the greatest artworks of the second half of the 20th Century. Photos can't begin to do them justice. The aluminium boxes are the better known, and are absolutely stunning, but leave a lot of time for the concrete boxes as well. Walk slowly among and around them, go from end to end (I think it's about a mile in total), and you'll see just how amazing site-specific art can really be.

As for the controversy surrounding the Judd Foundation, I certainly think the Christies sale gives every impression of being rushed and ill-thought-through. But the two big permanent pieces at Chinati are so much better than any of Judd's gallery pieces that I'm not as upset about it as I was before I went to Marfa. The Judd Foundation needs cash; it does not need a lot of gallery pieces lying around in storage. Yes, more of an effort should certainly have been made to place those pieces in museums rather than auctioning them off to the highest bidder. But I do have some hope that, armed with a $20 million endowment, the Judd Foundation will be able to memorialise and preserve the legacy of this great artist, both in Marfa and New York.

Posted by Felix at 14:20 EST

Comments

I just got back from Marfa too. Were we at Chinati on the same day, Friday?

Posted by: EiNY at 19:47 EST, April 04, 2006

I just got back from Marfa too. Were we at Chinati on the same day, Friday?

Posted by: EiNY at 19:49 EST, April 04, 2006

We arrived in Marfa on Friday, did Chinati on Saturday and Sunday. So yes, we were in Marfa, if not Chinati, at the same time. You didn't by any chance go to the Sam Shepard play on Saturday night, did you?

Posted by: Felix at 20:06 EST, April 04, 2006

I'm afraid not. We arrived in Marfa on Friday and left at 8am Saturday. We spent the night in the El Paisano hotel.

Funnily enough we heard you on the radio as we were driving from Houston to Del Rio on the Tuesday too!

Posted by: EiNY at 20:58 EST, April 04, 2006

But you missed the beautiful high country of northern New Mexico, the region of Taos, Angel Fire and Red River. Next time come and see us in Red River.

Posted by: Southwestgaelic at 15:09 EST, April 05, 2006

Heavy with envy having never been to Marfa. I agree that the endowment will do some good in much needed preservation, though I can't help but cringe (as I believe Judd would) at the idea of those pieces floating around instead of resting in a permanent collection. The surrounding space is just as important, if not a specific part, of the work itself.

Posted by: Ryan MacDonald at 13:09 EST, April 07, 2006

Yes, Ryan, but these are gallery pieces which were formerly in storage. You're right that the surrounding space is incredibly important, but whether the installation is permanent or not is less important, given that these pieces were not designed for any specific site.

Posted by: Felix at 13:17 EST, April 07, 2006