The Marfa.Org ®@ŋd¤m‡zЄ®

Shattered Illusion
A Prada "store" comes to West Texas, only to be vandalized
Prada Marfa's destruction stirred a certain level of anxiety among Marfa's gallery owners. It was, after all, only last year that three Houstonians -- one a Chinati intern -- sneaked into one of the artillery sheds housing minimalist artist Donald Judd's famed mill aluminum boxes for a game of hide-and-seek. Scuff marks and scratches on the boxes resulted in two counts of felony criminal mischief against two of the three. Some years earlier, in response to an Icelandic artist's installation labeling President Bush a terrorist, a window of the Marfa Locker Plant was shot out.

Marfa Border Patrol Agent and K-9 Receive Award
Field Experiments in Art, Architecture and Landscape
Less, Less, Less

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Judd Club (Dan Keane in ArtForum)
Dan's article had us laughing with recognition all the way through!
"We woke up Saturday morning in motel beds, adobe guesthouses, and dew-damp tents to find that the freak cold front had passed and the skies over Marfa, Texas, were back to their regular shade of blinding blue. Lone Star hangover or no, we were determined to catch all we could of the nutty blur that was the Chinati Foundation's nineteenth annual Open House weekend. Boots on. Find burrito and coffee. Hit the streets..."

'Prada Marfa' Sculpture Intrigues, Baffles
-- includes a nice Q and A with the artists.
After Chinati, Alpine Realizing Effects of Tourism
'New Art City' (book review)

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Minimalist art thrives in the TX desert, MSNBC
Art in a Small West Texas Town
Stealing the Show (Prada Marfa)
Vandal Hated the Art, but, Oh, Those Shoes

Third Street Compound, New Studio Lofts

Construction of the Third Street Compound is set for 2006. The project features adobe construction with open live/work areas and views to a native arroyo. Model, renderings, and floorplans will be on display at Marfa Realty at 123 N. Highland this weekend. Come take a look.

Marfa Book Co. Weekend Show

Chinati Open House 2005 Weekend
Photographs:
Laura Wilson - Opening Reception 6-8 Friday, 7 October
Readings:
Allan Gurganus, Lannan Writer in Residence - 2 p.m. Saturday, 8 October
B.H. Fairchild, Lannan Poet in Residence - 3 p.m. Saturday, 8 October

HWY 90 Gallery to Open with Work Inspired by Marfa

The streets of Marfa are the subject of work by artists Gretchen Lee Coles and Martha Hughes to be shown at the new HWY 90 Gallery.

Coles has created her work, titled “taking measure,” by measuring the streets of Marfa with lengths of twine and rolling it into a huge ball. The ball of twine is only one part of the piece, which will also include a map of Marfa and other components.

Hughes’ work is based on the detritus that makes up the visual noise of everyday life, such as candy wrappers and other litter collected on walks around Marfa. One piece comprises hundreds of individual images of artificial flowers found at Marfa’s Catholic Cemetery, blown off graves by the wind and faded by the sun.

HWY 90 Gallery will open to the public for the first time during Marfa’s Chinati Open House weekend. The gallery is located across from the “Judd Block” at 407 W. San Antonio Street (Highway 90), in a former furniture store recently renovated by Marfa mayor David Lanman. Hughes owns the gallery and is leasing the building from Lanman.

-- Coles has an MFA in sculpture from Indiana University and has been doing performance-based, site-specific installations for most of her career. During the 2004 Chinati Open House weekend, she drew much attention with her 64 x 84-inch map of Marfa created with feathers from Marfa’s feather factory.
-- Hughes received a BFA in studio art from the University of Texas. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationwide, and is included in numerous private and corporate collections. On her website, she posts a daily snapshot she takes of scenes around Marfa and work in progress at her studio.

University Project to Conduct Local Gathering

We just received this announcement via the "send a scoop" form:

Marfa Community Cafe, a conversation and community gathering. Please come! Saturday, October 15th, 2005 7:30pm - 9:30pm Casner Room, Marfa City Hall. Everyone is welcome! What is a conversation cafe? An opportunity for people and ideas to come together. New conversations around new questions - a way of sharing everyone's knowledge. It is an occasion to listen to the stories of Marfans, tapping into the wisdom and imagination that lives among us. It is a way to think together about the future. It is fun, thought provoking, and FREE! For more information contact Alina Ortega, alinacortega@gmail.com. [A project of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Ethics program, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas.]

The Marfa.Org ®@ŋd¤m‡zЄ®

Ballroom Marfa, YOU ARE HERE
This major group exhibition is devoted to emerging artists whose work is informed by their experience of urban and suburban life in contemporary culture. YOU ARE HERE seeks to address a collective and individual response to a particular moment in time: artists as social and cultural cartographers. These artists illustrate the spectrum of actual and emotional locations that create an ideological map of where we are now.

Interesting and Varied Responses to Prada Marfa
Post Your Open House Pics Here (on Marfa.Org)
Guggenheim Goes to Germany
How NYC Changed the Course of Art History
exhibitions 2D, Marfa Gallery
Group Show: Marfa Open 24 Hours

See you at Open House! ~ Mark