Marfa
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We came across this as we were driving through Texas, heading from Marfa to El Paso to fly home from our holiday.
Marfa was the last stop on our holiday. It’s a tiny town (pop. 2,000) in West Texas, renowned as something of a minimalist art Mecca. The artist Donald Judd moved to Marfa in the early 1970s and installed his artwork in various aircraft hangars at the former Fort Russell. Today, Fort Russell is the site of the Chinati Foundation where tourists, mainly from New York and San Francisco judging by our group, are given a guided tour of the works of Judd and other minimalist artists like Dan Flavin.
Fellow Brit Felix Salmon, who I later found out visited Chinati the day after us, has some great photos here.
We spent the night in Marfa’s El Paisano hotel which is still trading off its fame as having been the impromptu headquarters for the filming of the James Dean movie Giant. One of our guide books said Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson had stayed there. The other said the cast and crew stayed there but the famous trio stayed out of town. We had fun in the bar talking to a group of bikers who had ridden up from South Texas and listening to two musicians from Austin playing folk and country music.
The next day’s drive along Highway 90 from Marfa towards El Paso was stunning. Endless land, endless sky, and an endless, flat, straight road which for miles ran parallel with the railway line. In the middle of nowhere we came across this.
Prada Marfa is a sculpture by Michael Emigreen and Ingar Dragset. Much as I enjoyed all the art we saw in Houston and all the art we saw at Chinati, Prada Marfa, sitting in the middle of the desert, had the most impact. You can find out more about it here.
Texas Holiday 2006: The End.
UPDATE: While working on a separate story I came across this great photograph of Judd’s boxes.
5 Comments
April 20th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Holiday endings are the worst. But my, you’ve had an incredible journey! I’m so jealous. I wish I could take a road trip. My mom drove cross country twice last year and I’m dying to do that someday, especially after seeing her amazing pictures of buffal, elk and her friendly mountain goat that sat by her for hours…
If you’re home, welcome back! If you’re en route, safe travels!
April 21st, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Englishman in Marfa,
Glad you had a great time in West Texas! The Prada Marfa piece was quite controversial in town with the locals. And not just the cowboys, actually many of the local artists (emigrants from far away places like LA and NY) actually had some of the most negative reactions to the piece… Personally, I’m still not sure what to think of it. You can go to our blog at http://www.marfa.org to find more. Or straight to here: http://www.marfa.org/2005/09/prada-marfa-wrap-your-head-around-this.html
Ya’ll come back, ya hear?,
Mark
April 21st, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I hope to, Mark. I thought Marfa was great. I would have loved to have spent an extra couple of days there, especially at Ray’s bar.
I can see why some people might not approve of Prada Marfa but my wife and I had exacly the same reaction as some of the commenters on your blog. It is just such an amazing sight, especially coming so soon after Valentine
April 26th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Yeah, most people seem to have mixed feelings about it. It can be nice in its own right, but it also signaled a turning point in Marfa. Sort of the first time a big international artist(s) used Marfa’s newfound prestige in the art world. I guess detractors would call it artworld carpetbagging.
Mark
http://www.marfa.org
January 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I have visited Marfa. My Dad was a student pilot and instructor pilot at Marfa Air Field during WWII. I really enjoyed being at Hotel Paisona (?) and knowing absolutely that my Dad would have been there.