Marfa’s recipe for success:
- 1 part bohemian
- 1 part old west railroad stop
- 1 part minimalist art
- Add dash of quirk to taste
- Mix well and serve chilled.
There’s no doubt that this remote old west train stop in southwestern Texas is probably last the place you’d expect to find contemporary installation-art enriched by bohemian culture. Nonetheless, it exists in Marfa and draws in thousands of visitors annually.
Yup, with about 50,000 visitors per year (more than 25 times its population), including some celebrities like Beyoncé posing on Instagram at the installation “Prada Marfa” just outside of town, the vast majority are just passing through.
Marfa owes their success to Donald Judd, a key figure in contemporary art, and his minimalist art vision. Enamored by Marfa, he moved there from New York in 1971. He felt it was the perfect place with its stark desert backdrop to display large, permanent works of art. This led to the creation of a large-scale art installation at Fort D.A. Russell, a former military camp. 100 untitled Donald Judd works made in mill aluminum are now permanently installed in several of the buildings. He also convinced Dan Flavin to complete a neon light art display. This put Marfa on the map.
Artists continue to flock to the area making this small town an eclectic combination of galleries, wonderful one-of-a-kind shops, delicious food, and pastel painted public buildings that add to Marfa’s allure while washing away the stuffy pretenses that the art world can sometimes bring.
The Chinati Foundation, housing Judd’s milled aluminum pieces are a must see. Although the initial reaction was “military barracks filled filled with a 100 identical-but-different aluminum boxes, really?”; but the beauty emerged as we walked around and peered through the myriad internal configurations of each box and the shadows, reflections and optical illusions created by this simple but interesting display.
All of the art installations were interesting and even the barracks themselves had unique features.
We enjoyed a fresh and delectable dinner at at a restaurant called “Margaret’s in Marfa” on the small main street and then strolled through the town. Try to visit on a weekend as we were there mid-week and many of the smaller galleries and shops were closed at that time, but looked intriguing!
If you need more quirky in your life, seek out
- “Prada Marfa”, mentioned above, is just outside of town. This biodegradable adobe like Prada storefront houses Prada items, but no purchases can be made. The Scandinavian duo meant for the building to degrade over time, likely a commentary on western materialism, but following Beyoncé’s visit, the pop-up installation has drawn so many to the area just to jump spread eagle as she did in front of the “store” that curators have begun maintaining it. Hmmm…what’s the social statement on this now?
- Marfa Lights. This outdoor platform (and boondocking area) 9 miles east of Marfa was created to view what some say are supernaturally occurring colored lights of basketball size that move apart, split apart, and melt together. These lights were fist discovered in 1883 and appear at random times. There have been many theories, but scientists have yet to agree on what may be creating them.
The unexpected nature of Marfa is what we think drives its visits. It certainly drove ours.
