Donald Judd

by David Raskin

This pioneering book, the first monograph devoted to Donald Judd, addresses the whole breadth of Judd?s practices. Drawing on documents found in nearly twenty archives, David Raskin explains why some of Judd?s works of art seem startlingly ephemeral while others remain insistently physical. In the process of answering this previously perplexing question, Raskin traces Judd?s principles from his beginnings as an art critic through his fabulous installations and designs in Marfa, Texas. He discusses Judd?s early important paintings and idiosyncratic red objects, as well as the three-dimensional works that are celebrated throughout the world. He also examines Judd?s commitment to empirical values and his political activism, and concludes by considering the importance of Judd?s example for recent art.Ultimately, Raskin develops a picture of Judd as never before he shows us an artist who asserted his individuality with spare designs; who found spiritual values in plywood, Pl

Genres: Art

220 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2010

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This monograph by David Raskin appears to be the first dedicated to Donald Judd, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. I don't know why it took so long. Judd's work so well aligned with that strange contradiction in mid-century art production - the impulse to make an art in opposition to the literary, yet seemingly so in concert with emergent philosophies. Because of this, the writing from Raskin is often heady, mostly in service to the artist and his work, but sometimes lost in a strange, personal definition of scale and an elucidation of its importance in reading the work.

While it seems he will forever be associated with the american movement Minimalism, Judd rejected the term wholeheartedly, claiming no person's work to be reductive. I share Raskin's reading of the work, one which defies a common reading that emphasizes a static nature of the object and its presentation. Rather, Judd's work speaks to the openness of the universe, to variation within local orders and infinitely possible experience. The author sees the apparent serial nature of his production not as being of commercial, mechanized certitude, a position held early on by Krauss, but, contrarily, as something transitive and disparate. This is something that I love about Judd, the way the fomalism of his work looks to imply certitude, yet, in experiencing it, not a single moment holds long enough for certainty to develop.

A favorite experience of mine with a Judd came at a Pace space in Chelsea. I was running through quickly and didn't make note of the materials, though the piece was a metallic box, open at the top, with polished interior walls and an even more reflective floor surface. When one steps close to look inside, it's clear that all of the corners reflect in on themselves, thusly throwing a single certain experience open to nine possible realities. This is the true greatness of Judd, and it is well colored by Raskin: his ability to use basic principles of surface and construction to present definite sensory exercise, but also a world full of illusion as opposed to illusionism. Judd spoke of this in admiration of the work of the likes of Newman, Rothko, and Still, saying that they, "made their work a reality, not a picture of it."

The book isn't as big as I wish it were, but the photos are vibrant and do well to articulate the objects and their relation to the surrounding space. Pair it with "Chinati," a book put out by the Judd foundation last year, I believe, and you'll come away with a pretty strong understanding of the intents of this great american artist and the fervent, fertile conversation his work sparked in the second half of the last century, something seemingly destined to spill well into the current one, too.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember when David was writing this, and the end result is very rewarding. I think perhaps it is the most, dare I say, humanizing portrait of Judd and his concerns. I really enjoyed the in depth chapters on his politics and background in philosophy.

[robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

In keeping with DJ's spirit I erased my preceding attempt to expertly sum up his ...stuff.