Untitled (89-6)

Donald Judd created his first 'Stacks' in 1966. From this date until his death in 1994, the artist developed the pattern in various sizes and materials. Like in his acclaimed 'Progressions', the 'Stacks' are designed using a very simple formula, into which the void between each box should be equal to the box's height. By using such a simple concept and by creating a three dimensional object where the artist's intervention or craftmanship remains invisible, Judd breaks with the traditional notion of the artist as a craftman. By doing this Judd achieves his most important premise for an artwork, namely that the artwork be 'objective'.
In 'Untitled' (89-6), the precise geometry and the raw beauty of the Cor-ten steel combined with the glossy red Plexiglas exemplify Judd's unique brand of Minimalism. According to the artist, "in the three-dimensional work the whole thing is made according to complex purposes, and these are not scattered but asserted by one form. It isn't necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to compare, to analyse one by one, to contemplate. The thing as a whole, its quality as a whole, is what is interesting. The main things are alone and more intense, clear and powerful. They are not diluted by an inherited format, variations of form, mild contrasts and connecting parts and areas." (In: 'Arts Yearbook #8', New York 1965, p.82.)