Donald Judd created a foundation to buy land and display art in West Texas called The Chinati Foundation. He started buying land around Marfa in 1978, with help from the DIA Foundation. But you can look that up yourself, if you want.
We know some people involved with the foundation, and so we were able to get access to the grounds of this big (300+ acre) site when they are usually closed. As Doreen said, it is not because we are important, but we know important people.
The site was originally a US Calvary barracks. There are many (70) buildings, some of which have been renovated and are being used as display spaces, some are offices, some are empty.
It looks like this when you walk up. (We walked from town. This is probably not advisable in the summer heat, but it wasn't a bad mile or so for us)
There are admonishments. We were told that people had been performing naked yoga inside the sculptures. That must have been uncomfortable.
There are 60 installations over a one kilometer path.
They are BIG:
And they really relate to the terrain out there. It was very cool.
You have to see this sort of thing to believe it.
In several of the buildings there are Dan Flavin installations. They were not open, but you could see them through the windows.
There is a Claus Oldenburg piece called "The Last Horse" which is appropriate for a Cavalry Barrck,
German POWs were also housed here. This is one of the sayings on the wall that was not removed:
"It is better to keep your head than to lose it"
The stables had been converted to artillery storage after the horses were "decommissioned".
It is a HUGE space, and Judd put in all these soft-rolled aluminum sculptures. They all have the same outer dimensions, but there were all different inside.
We learned some more about Judd and the site, and the foundation, then walked home. We ate a Marfa Burrito on the way.
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