LONDON.- Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac announced the representation of Donald Judd and Judd Foundation in Europe. The close collaboration with the Foundation will be inaugurated by a solo exhibition of works by Donald Judd (1928-1994) in Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s Paris Marais gallery in April 2019, the first dedicated show of his works in France for almost 20 years. The exhibition will be curated by the artist's son Flavin Judd, Artistic Director of Judd Foundation.

“The architecture of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac presents an occasion to exhibit Don’s work within an environment that suits his artwork wonderfully. Through working with the gallery we will develop a compelling programme of exhibitions and initiatives.” Flavin Judd, Artistic Director, Judd Foundation

“We very much look forward to working with Judd Foundation in representing Donald Judd, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Judd challenged and redefined the notion of sculpture, architecture and design. His ground-breaking explorations of the relationship between the object and its environs, his seminal writings on art and his collaborations with other artists remain as influential as ever. To deeply engage with Judd’s work and build upon a truly remarkable legacy alongside the Foundation is a great honour.” Thaddaeus Ropac

Major works by Donald Judd are currently featured in Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s Pantin exhibition Monumental Minimal, on view until March 2019, which includes his early horizontal work dating from 1986 and two rare monumental vertical Menziken works dating from 1988, each formed in aluminium and coloured Plexiglas.

The work of Donald Judd (1928-1994) prepared the ground for a new artistic language and established the sculptural parameters he modulated throughout his career. For Judd, investigating spatial configurations and geometric forms was a means of distancing his work from symbolic meaning, often associated with Minimal art, a categorisation he adamantly opposed. His practice was embedded in the qualities of the materials he used, despite the industrial process of their production.

In 1968, the first major museum exhibition of his work in three dimensions was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In the same year Judd purchased 101 Spring Street, a five-story cast-iron building in New York where he developed his idea of the permanent installation, his belief that the placement of a work of art was as critical to its understanding as the work itself. The building became a platform for his art and that of others, with Judd’s works permanently exhibited alongside those of his contemporaries.

In 1971, Judd first visited Marfa, Texas where he eventually established studios, living quarters and ranches, now part of Judd Foundation. In Marfa, Judd's work increased in scale and complexity as he started making room-sized installations. In 1986, he transformed the public part of this unique large-scale project into the Chinati Foundation, a landmark of contemporary art as much as it is a key expression of his aesthetic, in which his work was to be exhibited permanently alongside fellow artists including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Richard Long, and Ilya Kabakov. Until the end of his life in 1994, he endeavoured to question the notion of the art object, using a variety of materials, a crafted approach and rigorous experimentation with colour.

For almost four decades Judd’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia with his work in museum collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; and Tate Modern, London. Major exhibitions of his work include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York in 1968, and in 1987, a retrospective was organised by the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and travelled to the Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona and Castello di Rivoli, Turin. In 1988, the Whitney Museum of American Art organised a retrospective of his work. In 2000, Donald Judd: Colourist was organised by the Sprengel Museum, Hannover and travelled to Kunsthaus Bregenz, Switzerland and Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice. In 2004 a survey exhibition was organised by Tate Modern, London, which travelled to the K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf and the Kunstmuseum Basel. A retrospective of his work is forthcoming at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.