Donald Judd, Untitled, 1969

At the center of this gallery, four open boxes made of aluminum and lined with blue Plexiglas sit evenly apart. Through his art as well as his writings, Donald Judd (who was born near Kansas City, Missouri) endeavored to create a new kind of three-dimensional object that resisted traditional sculptural practices. Made by hired fabricators using industrial processes and materials, his objects do not bear the trace of the artist’s hand. His “specific objects” do not represent the illusion of space, but rather function as actual things in real space. For example, Judd insisted that his freestanding work be placed directly on the floor, rather than on a platform. He also rejected emphasis on one aspect of the composition over any other by relying on seriality, repeating the same form over and over, as in this commanding work.