donald judd - individual light artist project

My focus for this archive is color as it relates to light, and the artist I'm focusing on today is Donald Judd. I stumbled across Donald Judd at the MoMA this summer - on a tangent note, I have a huge crush on the MoMA; all of my postcards in my room (see below) are from there. Anyway, Donald Judd considered materiality to be the central part of his work, and I think that theme works well with both color and light. For example, the color and reflections of this sculpture depend entirely on the color-infused plexiglass that he used to create it:



Judd worked mostly from plexiglass like this, wood, metal, plywood, and concrete.


(He used metal for this one)

Later in his career, he grew more and more dissatisfied with the art world - specifically, the idea of temporary exhibits designed by snobby curators. He created permanent installations that were not meant to represent anything.

In 1986, the Chinati foundation opened a non-profit art center in Marfa, TX, for Judd and his contemporaries, like Dan Flavin and Claes Oldenberg (below). Judd contributed 15 outdoor pieces and 100 aluminum pieces to the permanent collection. Sadly, Judd died in 1994 of lymphoma in Manhattan.

But on a happier note: Color! Material! Light! Minimalism!




And just because these other guys are cool too...


Dan Flavin


Claus Oldenburg

ellsworth kelly

love love love:

cross-referencing classes

In my Film Studies class, we're learning about how early film strips were tinted, toned, and hand-painted to create various color effects. I'm sure the photography people in the class know all about this, but I think it's really interesting, and especially relevant to light.

From "Cenere", an example of film toning



From "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," an example of tinting



From "The Wizard of Oz," a classic example of Technicolor - famous for rich, saturated color

Let the archiving begin!

For my Sculpture 1 archive project, I'm going to be collecting color - in works of art, movies, songs, anything! Because this class is supposed to be about light as a sculptural object, I'm going to try and find particularly luminous colors and colored lights, etc. I really feel that color can affect our emotions very strongly in ways that we probably don't realize. I should also probably do some research into how color and light work together - I know that color would not exist without light, but how exactly does light bounce off color and register in our eyes? All to be discovered. Anyway, I'm an art history major with a focus on modern art, and I think that anyone who walks into my room (pictures on the left) can see how much I love art, and color especially.

One more thing - this is my latest favorite commercial. Most of you all have probably seen the Bravia advertisement with the bouncy balls in San Francisco, and this is along the same lines - made with real paint.