MADRID.- Galería Elvira González opened the sixth solo exhibition of Donald Judd at the gallery, one of the foremost sculptors, artists and theorists of XXth century American art.

The exhibition includes a selection of drawings, prints and furniture since Judd (Missouri 1928 – New York 1994) was a prolific artist as well as a draftsman and printmaker who designed nearly a hundred pieces of furniture for everyday use.

Being one of the main sculptors of our time, he refused any attempt to label his art. His revolutionary approach to form, materials, working methods and display of art, broke from the prevailing modes of artmaking at the time. His work, in turn, changed the language of modern sculpture and today he remains a leading exponent of minimal art and the most important theorist for writings such as Specific Objects (1964).

As expressed by the artist: “The configuration and the scale of art cannot be transposed into furniture and architecture. The intent of art is different from that of the latter, which must be functional; if it appears to be only art, it is ridiculous”.

His passion for architecture, spaces and how to live in them led him to designing furniture for his own personal use, which has now become an important reference in overall furniture design.

After graduating in Philosophy and Art History at Columbia University and taking part in Painting Studies at the Art Students League, Judd began his career in the 1940s as a painter connected to the expressionist movement.

In 1968 he established his own studio in New York, acquiring 101 Spring Street, a cast iron building designed in 1870 by Nicholas Whyte. The five floors of this extraordinary building, itself an example of the best American architecture, were renovated and decorated over the years through the acquisition and exchange of works by other artists and friends such as Frank Stella, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin.

Always interested in finding a suitable environment for installing his work, in 1986 he established the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas; where large-scale works of his can be seen permanently in the middle of the desert and in renovated hangars, as well as works by other contemporary artists and colleagues of his generation.

In the early 1960s, Judd exhibited regularly and extensively in galleries in New York and throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Some of his most important exhibitions have taken place at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1968 & 1988); The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa (1975); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, (1987); and The Saint Louis Art Museum (1991) among others.

More recent exhibitions have taken place at The Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, Japan (1999); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001); Tate Modern, London (2004), The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, Missouri (2013-2014) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York - MoMA (2020).