The main reason we came to Marfa was to visit the Chinati Foundation, a contemporary art museum at the site of an old Army base. It was founded by Donald Judd, who served at the base when it was still functioning, and it features works by Judd himself as well as a few other artists.
This are 100 untitled works made from mill aluminum by Judd. They are in two large, long buildings with glass on either side. At the entrance there's a small panel of the aluminum so the guide can show kids (and adults) how even a finger touch can ruin the surface of the metal, so a lot of this part of the tour was keeping the kids from touching anything.
It is a really cool thing to see - the works are all the same outside dimensions, but each one is a different variation - no side panels on two sides, sloping interior panels, etc. The one Cielo is standing next to has a small opening that goes across the bottom from one side to the other.
Vernon and Eero walking among the boxes, with the grounds of the foundation in the background.
Three generations, between buildings.
The next thing we saw was an abandoned Russian schoolhouse, as implemented by Ilya Kabakov, known as "Schoolhouse No. 6". Its designed disarray is carefully arranged, and the temptation to pick up papers from the floor has to be resisted, as everything is in its place. This was one of Cielo's favorite parts.
The next section was a large warehouse sized building that Judd converted into a public space. We asked if it was still used and the guide said there had been a big event there just the night before. Here's one of the outdoor tables and Alison sitting at one of the indoor tables.
The view from outside the event building - you can see how large it is. The square pivoting doors were a common theme in many buildings at Chinati.
We next went to a different display space, in downtown Marfa (such as it is). It featured these crushed car part sculptures by John Chamberlain. Cielo was impressed.
Alison and Vernon went back later that afternoon to see the light installations by Dan Flavin. But while we were waiting, Alison got a nice picture of these baby birds at the main Chinati building.
Flavin's piece was a series of former U-shaped Army bunkhouses where he had installed different colored fluorescent lights in the bottom of the "U", behind grids. It was a very Altered States sort of look.
Here's the effect from one of the arms of a U. The colors are a lot more subtle.
