Minimal Art


Donald Judd
Untitled 1980

Other artists including the sculptor Donald Judd turned to a style known as Minimalism. Convinced that Abstract Expressionism had deteriorated into a set of techniques for faking both the subjective and the transcendent, around 1960 Judd began to search for an art free of falsehood. He decided that sculpture offered a better medium than painting for creating litteral, matter-of-fact art.

Rather than depicting shapes, which Judd thought smacked of illusionism and therefore fakery. He produced actual shapes. In search of simplicity and clarity, he soon evolved a formal vocabulary featuring identical rectangular units arranged in rows and constructed of industrial materials, especially anodized aluminium and Plexiglas. Untitled is a typical example of his mature work.