After visiting the “Fort Davis, Marfa and Alpine area, many times for many years, I finally made it to the Chinati Foundation Art Collection. A place beyond description, its home found a perfect place in Marfa, Texas.
No other place on earth could host such a uniquely special collection of art but for the wide-open expanse of the desert in the outer reaches of West Texas. Marfa is a place of natural mystique. You will find the illusive Marfa Lights. No one has ever found the origins of the phenomena, leaving space for personal interpretations. In Marfa you will find a colony of artists that develop their own individual style. Developers have come in and restored many of the abandoned buildings, making it a lovely oasis in the desert. The Hotel Paisano will make your stay even more enjoyable in comfort and style. It is considered the most luxurious hotel between El Paso and San Antonio.
If you go online, you will find information for the tours that take you to the views. They have a 6-hour tour with a lunch break and a 3-hour tour. Bob and I went to the office to arrange for a more personal tour. We made a reservation for the 3-hour tour because we knew we could not handle that 6-hour one. We discussed our ability to walk (how long and how far.) They arranged to have a small all-terrain vehicle for part of our trek. They were very accommodating to our needs. If you have a wheelchair, it will go most of where we went. There are multiple facilities throughout Marfa. The tour forms a caravan going from place to place.
Our tour included Donald Judd’s “100 untitled works of art”, the John Chamberlain’s Building, and the Robert Irwin’s “untitled (dawn to dusk)”. I really enjoyed the “100 untitled works of art.” Each of the 100 milled aluminum boxes were unique; no two were alike. I spent my time there studying the effects of light on each box picking out the one I liked the best.
The John Chamberlain Building housed works of crushed car parts. The color was the original paint on the cars. This was fun because looking at certain pieces I saw different things, like and Native American Shaman, a parrot, and an original wall art that would look good in anyone’s home. Most of the sculptures were round balls of metal. I expected at any moment for the “Transformer” type sculpture to turn into their intentioned superhero.
My favorite place was Robert Irwin’s “untitled (dawn to dusk). It has been several days since we were there, and I am still awed by the experience. For me it was a visual, physical, spiritual experience. It was a full body art experience as I became part of the art. Light of course is the predominant force. Each part of the display was affected by the light. The light was visual Space and dimension was used to draw you into the display. Being from West Texas space has always been a part of my daily life. I know how space feels. It is physical. Being visually and physically stimulated is always spiritual.
The Chinati Foundation Collection has been on my bucket list for years. I can think of no better place for it than Marfa Texas. I hope to return the next time I am in the area.
The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas. Founded in 1986 by the artist Donald Judd, it is dedicated to preserving and showcasing large-scale works of art, particularly those by Judd and other artists closely associated with him. The foundation's name comes from the nearby Chinati Mountain range.
The museum is unique for its commitment to site-specific installations and its focus on works that engage with the landscape. Many of the pieces are displayed in converted military buildings from the 1940s, which gives the whole experience a very distinct, immersive, and almost meditative quality. The Chinati Foundation is home to monumental pieces by artists like Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, llya Kabakov, and Rafael Ferrer, to name a few. It's a favorite for those who appreciate minimalist art and the fusion of art with nature and space.
The foundation is open to the public, and visiting it can be a transformative experience due to its remote location and the scale of the artworks on display. It's also a place where the quiet of the desert landscape enhances the experience of the art itself. Have you visited or are you interested in going?
Resource: The Chinati Foundation