The Chinati Foundation

I love living relatively closer to Marfa, Texas. Previously, Marfa was a flight away; now, it's a drive away. The peak of Maria's hipster frothiness seems to have passed. It appears to have settled into a more predictable groove. Of course, the reason for this town's fame is Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation. I do my infrequent pilgrimage to Chinati for one reason: to see his '100 untitled works in mill aluminum.' I like choosing the open viewing versus the guided tour option because it gives me time to walk among the aluminum blocks undisturbed in relative silence with no time limit. The sun's angle hit different pieces producing different angles of contrast and shimmer.Being in these two buildings is like standing in a mash up of a cathedral and an after-hours machine shop. So many get frustrated with Donald Judd's work. They place demands on what it all means and they walk out dismissively when enlightenment doesn't happen. I toss out my brain and my thoughts. I don't come here to figure anything out. I walk the aisles and just breathe it all in. It's soothing and gratifying; part of the spiritual reset that Chinati and Marfa can do.P.S. Chinati still doesn't allow photography inside their buildings or galleries. I visited once when a rare exception was made. Almost every other art institution in North America allows non-flash photography. It's time for Chinati to allow for the same.

You have to be here to appreciate this place. It is a "Place". Located in Marfa Texas unheard of until 1956 when Rock Hudson, Elisabeth Taylor, and James Dean Filmed Giant, Marfa is a small town propped up by a trickle of gentrification over the last few decades.Founded in the 1970s by artist Donald Judd, the once small beginnings art museum is now a full-blown institution with world reach. Set on an old military installation, Fort Russell was established in 1911. Initially, it was established to protect West Texas from Mexican bandits after the Poncho Villa raid.The base was expanded in 1911 to deter people from crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. In 1935 it was established as the home base of the 77th Field artillery. During WW2 it was expanded as a woman corp unit,Chemical mortar battallion and troops guarding the border. WW2 German prisoners of war were also housed here.Post WW2 the Fort was closed and in the 1970s Donald Judd aquired the property. He began converting the buildings to house large scale art installations. The museum opened to the public in 1984.The important history of the buildings has been preserved with little alteration. Only to make useful the art spaces.Over the last few years Ive grown to appreciate modern art more than I used to. I can honestly say that standing in one of these old army buildings and looking at these creations, just for this place, was transcendant. I felt it! wow.You could have never convinced me of that before I went.This is a must see if you are within 200 miles!!!Go!

I mean it's okay. Luckily, my daughter was young enough to not be charged and I wasn't charged either since I'm a health care worker. Which btw if you're a teacher, healthcare worker, veteran, etc there are discounts. Glad it was free for us bc honestly I just didn't get it. I love art of all kinds but this is was reaching. Since we got there in the earlier part of the day, we got to see the galleries of the table like pieces. Some were cool and a lot of it was repetitive. Now I've taught my daughter manners and she definitely knows not to touch anything in a gallery or museum. On this trip, we visited multiple museums and galleries in El Paso, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe without any problems. But apparently we were still walking too close to the tables. So exactly how are we to admire these basic unexciting pieces if we can't get too close? Not that we were all that close to begin with but you know what I mean. After that, we went outside and saw the slabs of concrete. Again lots of repetitiveness with a few cool optical illusions that some of them made. One thing they don't tell you. Beware of the fire ants. Somehow one had crawled up my leg and left a very big sting on the side of my hip. Just be super mindful when you're out there as you are in full blown nature when looking at these pieces. Overall, I don't think I would go back but I would love to explore the other art galleries in Marfa.

I had to chuckle a bit reading the reviews. Seems people either love it or hate it. I visited Marfa in 2018. I found it brilliant and enlightening. I agree if you do not like Minimalist art or art theory, you might hate this place. If you are interested in exploring more than predictable art, this has something to offer of significance.

As an artistic family, we were so excited about visiting the Chinati & left quite disappointed. Not worth the $15 per person we paid. I would have rather save that money and bought a beautiful book of Marfa art. Half the exhibits were closed & the others were pointless & expressionless.

Appreciated the art, and how crucial the viewer's physical experience is to the most well known work in the collection, Donald Judd's 15 untitled works in concrete. The Marfa earth and small fauna and the midmorning sun all impacted how I interacted with the piece.That said, it was a letdown to be charged for something you can see from the highway. My understanding is that prior to the pandemic, the outdoor installations were free to view. This is no longer the case, and the other works that you will he able to see with the basic admission pass can vary. Still a great experience, but if your priority is to see as many discrete works of art as possible with a single pass the basic admission will let you down.

As someone else said, this place BLOWS! I understand -- and appreciate -- art, but I also also understand The Emperor's New Clothes syndrome, and this place has it in spades.The only people who will enjoy this installation are snooty poseurs who want to impress their snooty poseur friends. A bunch of metal cubes? Big deal. A field full of concrete blocks? Looks like any construction site USA. Scrap metal welded together? It's not even interesting. Plus, tickets are $15! They refused to give us the over 65 discount they tout. No photos are allowed. And the day we visited, they were understaffed, so we couldn't even enter the main exhibit. We had to make do with looking through the windows. Even if it were free, it would be a horrible waste of time. Please don't be fooled.

They've got lots of space. Lots of space filled with cement blocks. The indoor galleries were not open, so you had to peek in, or in my case, have your taller other half, give you a boost to peek in. They only release tickets for a self guided outdoor tour, that monday, and are only on certain days. It wasn't crowded. There was a lack of parking through. And no restrooms.

This is a masterpiece of symmetry, order and divine masculine energy juxtaposed against the rough west Texas landscape, the land of blood meridian. I thought of Camille Paglia's treatise in Sexual Personae, the eternal saga of the Apollonian and the Chthonian.Visiting this space is an invitation to empty the mind.

The Chinati Foundation has great potential but I don't recommend paying $15 to see this place. If your into photography this might take your interest but you will be disappointed going to look at the art. 7 buildings were open and all of them had the same lights in different colors. It was terrible and I regret spending money.