Beschreibung:

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED NEW YORK COLLECTION Donald Judd Untitled stamped with the artist's name, number and fabricator "DONALD JUDD 91-114 © ALUMINUM AG MENZIKEN" on the reverse clear anodized aluminum and green acrylic sheet 10 x 39 3/8 x 9 3/4 in. (25.4 x 100 x 24.8 cm.) Executed in 1991.
Provenance Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2004 Exhibited Geneva, ART & PUBLIC, Donald Judd Drawings, March 16 - April 19, 2006 Catalogue Essay Executed in 1991, only three years before the artist’s passing, Untitled exemplifies Donald Judd’s commitment to material, space, and color as the three fundamental elements of art. A key figure of the Minimalist movement beginning in the 1960s, Judd continually rejected traditional notions of art history, as demonstrated by the present lot. From 1988 to 1994, Judd worked with Alu Menziken, an aluminum manufacturing company based in Switzerland, in the construction of these industrial boxes. Menziken’s primary area of focus was the production of automobiles, machinery, and aerospace, making Judd’s preference for working with this company a true testament to his aesthetic ideology and practice—a rejection of the traditional artist’s studio in favor of the factory as a place of artistic production. In Untitled, Judd utilizes the industrial materials of clear anodized aluminum and colored acrylic sheets to create a singular form that is without allusion to the pictorial world. The floating rectangular box, a defining characteristic of the works fabricated by Menziken, is bisected by a central panel, which divides the sculpture into three equal parts. While the viewer is initially confronted with a powerful, static form, new spatial relations come into play as his or her position shifts, reflecting the surrounding space in different iterations. In its design, Judd experiments with the striking dichotomy inherent within the structure of the Menziken-fabricated works, and also alludes to the importance of color. While the outer aluminum structure remains austere and unchanging, the interior is imbued with a richness and complexity made possible by the emerald green hue of the acrylic sheet. Floating and isolated, each of these boxes takes on a wholly distinct personality with each color variant. Ultimately, and as exemplified by the present lot, Judd’s preference for modest, simple forms allowed him to truly explore the artistic possibilities of color, light, and space for which he is renowned. Read More Artist Bio Donald Judd American • 1928 - 1994 Donald Judd was an American artist known for large-scale minimalistic sculptures, which he personally referred to as "specific objects." Though associated with Minimalism, Judd did not wish to be confined to this categorization and felt that his work was more complex. He utilized industrial materials and demonstrated the way in which they interacted with their surroundings, an effect he felt was more powerful than flat oil on canvas. Judd was more interested in the spacing of his pieces and the way viewers would interpret them than the importance of the pieces themselves. Inspired by architecture, the artist designed and produced his own furniture, predominantly in wood, and eventually hired a diverse team of carpenters late in his career. View More Works