Judd, Untitled, 1969 This piece is called Untitled because he did not want to create any symbolic associations.   Every decision that he makes is specifically geared so that the objects themselves have no meaning, because the meaning is not about the objects, but their relationship to their environment.  Made from industrial materials; he has them manufactured to his exact specifications; highly polished steel frames and clear Plexiglas.  Objects are scaled to the human body; an average human being can almost see the top of the boxes but not quite. If they are any smaller, they become objects; if they’re any larger, they become monuments. They function in-between the two.   He wanted to make ‘one thing after another’; he doesn’t just make one object because then it would be an object/sculpture, two would be a pair, three has symbolic meanings (trinity), but four starts a series.

Judd, Untitled, 1969

  • This piece is called Untitled because he did not want to create any symbolic associations.  
  • Every decision that he makes is specifically geared so that the objects themselves have no meaning, because the meaning is not about the objects, but their relationship to their environment. 
  • Made from industrial materials; he has them manufactured to his exact specifications; highly polished steel frames and clear Plexiglas. 
  • Objects are scaled to the human body; an average human being can almost see the top of the boxes but not quite. If they are any smaller, they become objects; if they’re any larger, they become monuments. They function in-between the two.  
  • He wanted to make ‘one thing after another’; he doesn’t just make one object because then it would be an object/sculpture, two would be a pair, three has symbolic meanings (trinity), but four starts a series.
4 notes
  1. moontrick reblogged this from artwhat and added:
    ; _; I love you donald judd.
  2. artwhat posted this

artwhat.

during my first ever survey of western art class, my professor explained the difference between historians and art historians. historians, she said, were interested in old things. art historians, on the other hand, were interested in old things of quality. you don't hang garbage up on the walls of a museum; it has to be substantial and it has to mean something. so here you go; old things, made mostly by dudes long dead, of debatable degrees of quality but always with a constant level of importance. think of this as a deck of flash cards... sans the whole cards part.

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