Judd Foundation

5/16/2014

At Spring and Mercer sits one of the 250 cast iron buildings in Soho built in the early 1900s.  Soho back then was industrial, and when artists started moving in in the late 60s, it was technically illegal to live there, but move in they did.

New York artist Donald Judd bought this place in 1969 for $68,000, and over the years transformed the building from an abandoned junked sewing warehouse full of debris and no central heating, with thin single paned windows, (his wife said living there was like camping.) to a hip artist studio.  

Judd, famous for his minimalist sculpture in the 70s and 80s, used this space as his primary residence until he moved to Marfa Texas in 1973, and then as a second residence and art space until his death in 1994.  Here it has been maintained largely as it was then, simple and monastic, showcasing a few pieces of his, his friend Dan Flavin, and others including an early sculpture by Chamberlain.

Get a slice of Soho art history on a reservation only tour of this space by inspired and knowledgable architects and artists.

Opened to the public in 2013.  
Book in advance to ensure space.

Look for the neon glow emanating from the 5th floor, a fantastic sculpture spanning the length of the building in what was Judd's bedroom.

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  Look for the glowing flavin neons at spring and mercer

  Look for the glowing flavin neons at spring and mercer

4/27/2014

I've never been a major lover of Donald Judd's work and learning more about it on a tour of the recently opened Judd Foundation (such as, he based many of his sculptures on mathematical formulas) didn't do much to curry him favor with me. I just don't think there should be that much math in art! But nevertheless I really enjoyed touring the space and would recommend it to anyone who can get a reservation (it's by appointment only, and tours are booked far in advance). What's great about it is seeing some of the pieces in Judd's personal art collection, works by his friends who can be found in any big museum of modern art, but here they've been lived with. The art has grown into the house, which makes looking at it a very different experience than a museum. The huge geometric paintings by Frank Stella, an orderly puzzle of angles and curves, where the fruity kitchen colors of the 70s--avocado, oatmeal, lemon, peach--had faded into a lighter, odder palette, or in the bedroom, Dan Flavin's serially off-center array of fluorescent arches, whose red and blue light extended endlessly in the glass dorr on the elevator shaft and yellowed the picture windows with their shine. Curiously, the walk-in closet/dressing room had a caricature by Daumier about the 19th century art salons of Paris, not the kind of thing one would normaly associate with Judd! Also interesting to see the artist's obsession with order domestically applied to his kitchen counters, where all the forks and spoon lay out in a lengthy series.