The Chinati Foundation

The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.

I love the idea of using a 'run down' building and turning it into a space for art, and Judd's view that art should be left where it was placed and never moved again is something I totally agree with. An artist's work is their lively hood and to have it placed then removed is almost offensive. I think I've found an artist that I can confide with at long last.

The specific intention of Chinati is to preserve and present to the public permanent large-scale installations by a limited number of artists. The emphasis is on works in which art and the surrounding landscape are inextricably linked. Judd wrote in the foundation's catalogue:

"It takes a great deal of time and thought to install work carefully. This should not always be thrown away. Most art is fragile and some should be placed and never moved again. Somewhere a portion of contemporary art has to exist as an example of what the art and its context were meant to be. Somewhere, just as the platinum iridium meter guarantees the tape measure, a strict measure must exist for the art of this time and place."