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The Chinati Foundation
by
findingDulcinea Staff
The Chinati Foundation is a haven in Marfa, Texas where architecture and art share their space with the surrounding landscape.
Marfa, Texas is a budding town in the southwestern part of the state, removed from any large cities and growing to be a preferred haven for many artists. Central to Marfa’s cultural identity is Chinati, a gallery founded by the late Donald Judd in 1985. Fostering a connection between landscape and large-scale art, the gallery, on the site of a former army base, primarily houses sculpture and integrates both the interior and exterior of its man-made structures with the region’s surrounding natural wonders.
Chinati’s mission statement, written by Judd in 1987, discusses the aims of this art space. Art is “conquered as soon as it’s made,” Judd said—bought, sold, and transported to a foreign museum. For Judd, there was no reason for art and landscape to “exist in isolation” from one another.
Source: Chinati.org
Diamond in the Desert
One traveler, promoting the variety of adventure and culture in Texas, documented a trip to Marfa, Texas. Pointing out the area’s mountains, hot springs, unique architecture, and great location for sculpture, the traveler’s tales are accompanied by striking imagery.
Source: Texas Escapes
A Weekly Dose of Architecture is a blog that sums up Chinati well, providing small but suggestive images as well as interesting facts and anecdotes about Donald Judd, the structure of the Chinati building, its history, and the philosophy behind the space.
Source: Archidose
Cultural Reincarnation
The magazine Art Forum discusses the rejuvenation of the Judd aesthetic with Chinati’s yearly festival, here documented in 2005. Strictly speaking, the event is an “Open House” held in the first week of October, but has come to be a lollapalooza that involves the whole town of Marfa. The event typically unveils an installation, invites bands and other artists to perform and present, and, as Art Forum’s writer calls it, has become a “Burning Man for the Riesling set."
Source: Art Forum
The Seattle Times reviews the up-and-coming hot spot of Marfa and discusses the other highlights surrounding Chinati, including Big Bend National Park and the Chinati Mountains. A mere three hours away is the nearest city, El Paso, and Marfa, a “one-stoplight” town, itself boasts several unique accommodations and an influx of former Santa Fe residents.
Source: Seattle Times
Eerie Legacy
A short documentary on YouTube discusses the Marfa Lights phenomenon; lights seen over the horizon in the direction of the Chinati Mountains that appear to “dance” and flicker across the night sky. They’re widely believed to be reflected car headlights, but the jury is still happily out.
Source: YouTube
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
