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Artist or Maker: Donald Judd (1928-1994)

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Description: Untitled, 1993 (93-1 Ballantine)
stamped 'JUDD/BALLANTINE' (on the reverse of each unit); signed '93-1 Ballantine A-F' (on the reverse of each unit)
Douglas Fir plywood with gray, yellow, brown, blue, orange and green transparent Plexiglas
six units; each 50 x 100 x 50 cm. (19 11/16 x 39 3/8 x 19 11/16 in.) (6)

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Exhibited: New York, PaceWildenstein, Donald Judd Late Work, October-November 2000, pp. 60-61 (illustrated in color, 5 units of 6).
London, Tate Modern; Düsseldorf, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and Kunstmuseum Basel, Donald Judd, February 2004-January 2005, pp. 242-243 (illustrated in color, 5 units of 6)

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Notes: Untitled, 1993 a stunningly beautiful plywood and Plexiglas wall-piece, ranks as one of Judd's late masterpieces, its vertical arrangement of single boxes with identical dimensions is a continuation of Judd's classical stacks. Rather than the ten components found in the earlier stacks, Judd uses six units of open boxes which are placed at regular intervals, one above the other on the wall. The intervening spaces have the same dimensions as the units. The distance between the units becomes part of the work, functioning as open volumes. The boxes link the floor to the ceiling, and demonstrate Judd's desire to integrate his art with architecture.

Despite his reputation as a strict Minimalist (a term he strongly refuted), Judd was a dedicated colorist who accorded color the same importance in his work as space and materials. Each plywood box is backed with transparent Plexiglas of a different color. The grain and charachter of the wood is accentuated by the color filter, and in this way Judd is able to fuse color and its support into a single entity. The rectangular box becomes a clear vessel, individual in its presence and its value, yet part of a harmonious palette that changes as one's eye ascends the wall.

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