Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1180206
64 A s a contemporary art curator and spectator, I am constantly questioning the context by which art thrives. Almost 20 years since art fairs changed the way most people experience art, I have made it my life's ambition to seek out obscure locations that contain unique opportunities for observing culture in the making. Marfa, Texas, is perhaps the most fabled destination for art in the United States — and arguably the world. Founded in the early 1880s as a railroad stop, this high desert town in West Texas B Y G I L B E R T V I C A R I O MARFA'S ECOLOGIES attracts thousands of crusaders eager to visit Donald Judd's fabled Chinati Foundation. Established in 1986, the Chinati Foundation realized Judd's vision of creating a destination to experience permanent large-scale installations in a stunning landscape, thereby inextricably linking the two environments. Judd's first visit to Marfa was in 1971, followed by his eventual move in 1977. The work of Judd, John Chamberlain, and Dan Flavin anchored the foundation; the idea of the foundation, however, developed further, and its holdings were enriched over years. Now its permanent collection includes Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, PAGE 68, TOP: ELIZABETH FELICELLA / ESTO © JUDD FOUNDATION, DONALD JUDD ART © JUDD FOUNDATION / ARS, NYC. CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PERMANENT COLLECTION, THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, MARFA, TX, PHOTO DOUGLAS TUCK, COURTESY THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, © 2019 STEPHEN FLAVIN / ARS, NYC. PERMANENT COLLECTION, THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, MARFA, TX, PHOTO ALEX MARKS, COURTESY THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, © 2019 ROBERT IRWIN / ARS, NYC. COURTESY THE ARTIST, BALLROOM MARFA, AND FRANÇOIS GHEBALY, PHOTO ALEX MARKS. COURTESY INDE/JACOBS, MARFA, TX. PERMANENT COLLECTION, THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, MARFA, TX, PHOTO ALEX MARKS, COURTESY THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, © 2019 ROBERT IRWIN / ARS, NYC. PAGE 70, CLOCKWISE: COURTESY THE ARTIST, BALLROOM MARFA, AND COMMONWEALTH AND COUNCIL, ALL COMMISSIONED BY BALLROOM MARFA, PHOTO ALEX MARKS. BOTH DONALD JUDD IMAGES IN THE LANDSCAPE PERMANENT COLLECTION, THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, MARFA, TX, PHOTO DOUGLAS TUCK, COURTESY THE CHINATI FOUNDATION, DONALD JUDD ART © 2019 JUDD FOUNDATION / ARS, NYC. ELIZABETH FELICELLA / ESTO © JUDD FOUNDATION. LICENSED BY ARS, NYC. This page, top: Judd Foundation, Art Studio, Marfa, TX. Clockwise from left: Dan Flavin's untitled (Marfa project), 1996, and Robert Irwin's untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016, both at The Chinati Foundation. Candice Lin's Birth of a Nation, 2008; Raising the Dead, 2008; and Failed Matriarchy, 2009, all at Ballroom Marfa. Matt Magee's Pyramid Thoughtform, 2018, at Inde/Jacobs. Exterior view of Irwin's untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016, at The Chinati Foundation.