Marfa and DIA
Have you ever had two experiences that you thought were entirely unrelated only find out years later that they were connected? Sort of like friends from different eras of your life who know each other. This is a similar epiphany.
In 2003 before I took my last family vacation before my divorce - it was fractious, weather was hot and steamy, everybody had a different agenda. With this as the background we spent a week in the Hudson Valley in NY state, north of NYC. One of the stops was to Dia:Beacon. It is one of the “Not -in-NYC” satellites of the main gallery. Housed in a refurbished Nabisco factory it featured huge rooms with some of the worst modern art I’ve seen in a long time. White canvas’ stretched on frames hung like pictures, smashed car parts welded together. Anyway we came, we saw and we left.
In 2003 before I took my last family vacation before my divorce - it was fractious, weather was hot and steamy, everybody had a different agenda. With this as the background we spent a week in the Hudson Valley in NY state, north of NYC. One of the stops was to Dia:Beacon. It is one of the “Not -in-NYC” satellites of the main gallery. Housed in a refurbished Nabisco factory it featured huge rooms with some of the worst modern art I’ve seen in a long time. White canvas’ stretched on frames hung like pictures, smashed car parts welded together. Anyway we came, we saw and we left.
Established in 1974, Dia Art Foundation is internationally recognized as one of the world's
most influential contemporary art institutions. The name "Dia," taken from the Greek word
meaning "through," was chosen to suggest the institution's role in enabling visionary artistic
projects that might not otherwise be realized because of their scale or ambition. Dia's
founders, Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil, wished to extend the boundaries of the
traditional museum to respond to the needs of the generation of artists whose work matured
and became prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. Ever since, Dia's mission has been to
commission, support, and present site-specific long-term installations and single-artists
exhibitions to the public.
most influential contemporary art institutions. The name "Dia," taken from the Greek word
meaning "through," was chosen to suggest the institution's role in enabling visionary artistic
projects that might not otherwise be realized because of their scale or ambition. Dia's
founders, Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil, wished to extend the boundaries of the
traditional museum to respond to the needs of the generation of artists whose work matured
and became prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. Ever since, Dia's mission has been to
commission, support, and present site-specific long-term installations and single-artists
exhibitions to the public.
Enter Marfa, TX
Come to find out that Marfa , Texas was also a site for another of Dia’s offsite galleries. I have just been thru Marfa ( 12/2009) having heard that it was an Art’s Community and the site of where the movie stars stayed while filming GIANT .
While traveling I picked up an interesting book The Spiral Jetta by Erin Hogan. It’s her tome about driving thru the west in search of several well known Land Art installations. It was here that I learned of the Dia connection with Marfa. It turns out that Donald Judd, a well known NYC artist came out to Texas and set up shop. The Dia Foundation and Judd co-developed the beginnings of the art community in Marfa. There was a falling out and Judd became the sole proprietor of the holdings - even going to the extent of buying an abandoned US Air Force field for one of his installations. What follows are some photos from my recent trip. The town was for the most part deserted and not knowing then about the Judd installations we didn’t travel to see his installations. Upon arrival back home I did buy GIANT to watch.
While traveling I picked up an interesting book The Spiral Jetta by Erin Hogan. It’s her tome about driving thru the west in search of several well known Land Art installations. It was here that I learned of the Dia connection with Marfa. It turns out that Donald Judd, a well known NYC artist came out to Texas and set up shop. The Dia Foundation and Judd co-developed the beginnings of the art community in Marfa. There was a falling out and Judd became the sole proprietor of the holdings - even going to the extent of buying an abandoned US Air Force field for one of his installations. What follows are some photos from my recent trip. The town was for the most part deserted and not knowing then about the Judd installations we didn’t travel to see his installations. Upon arrival back home I did buy GIANT to watch.
