GEGO
DONALD JUDD
SOL LEWITT
BRICE MARDEN
AGNES MARTIN
AD REINHARDT
Lines and Planes and Space

March 7 - April 22, 2023

"Judd sought explicitness and intelligibility, not content. The intake of clear vision would be content enough, could it be achieved. And that experience would not exclude perceptual illusion, contrary to what some critics have said, but would set illusion plainly against the stable background that supports it." -- Kenneth Baker

In 1991, Donald Judd created a series of works in aluminum. As opposed to his other works (often constructed from multiple elements of wood, metal, and/or acrylic sheeting that were attached together), this piece was created by pressing heated aluminum through a die (a process called extrusion) to create a specific form, with the dimensions of 15 x 105 x 15 centimeters. This extruded aluminum form was then anodized. Judd chose the anodizing process as opposed to other painting methods because he liked “the color to be in the material” and that, “Anodized aluminum, even though it’s a surface, too, is a little better to me, because at least a little layer of it is color in the material” (from an interview by Angeli Janhsen for "Donald Judd," Kunstverein St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1990). Judd considered color, material, and space to be the main aspects of visual art. In this 1991 work, these elements (and their processes of fabrication) have been chosen carefully so as to create a specific and unified experience with light, openness, shadow, and solidity.

"One day, I asked Judd if he had a project he wanted to do, and he said, ‘Yes, a piece that is simple but complex -- no screws or bolts, just a single piece of metal…’ but he immediately warned me: ‘…it is expensive to do; we need to order 200 meters minimum of extruded aluminum.’ This did not frighten me at all, quite the contrary. I was thrilled to undertake this adventure with Don. And so it happened. The process took two years to finish. The result was a wonderful piece conceptually condensed into a typical Judd.”
Jörg Schellmann

For images of the work by Judd, of the exhibition, and for further information on the other works included in the show, click here

For images of other Judd works available, click here