Filled with the crisp precision and eloquence that marked much of his oeuvre, Untitled (88-11) from 1988, is an example of one of Donald Judd’s most successful and elegant works. Elaborating on the idea of his rounded, “bullnose,” progressions first formulated in 1964, themselves an evolution of another earlier example of bisected iron pipe set into a box on the floor, Judd first transformed the form from rounded to square. He then determined the spacing of the forms and their equally important paired negative spaces, by following an a priori mathematical formula. The progression of the forms and space follow the XHXHXHX; the solid form and empty space alternate and interact according to this mathematical sequence extending along the horizontal plane, and in designing the form in such a way, Judd transferred the spatial play he had originally conceived of with the pipe on the floor into an altogether new wall form. In utilizing a regular, mathematical formulation, here the XHXHX, Judd was able to make an abstraction phenomenal and thus manifest it now as a sort of material unto itself.
Conflating rigorous geometric design and an a priori determined mathematical system, Untitled (88-11), 1988, simultaneously conveys the artist’s commitment to spectacular coloration. Asserting its materiality and conceptual rigor, Untitled (88-11) evinces a chromatic resonance in its lustrous surfaces and embedded coloration. Color is the single-most telling aspect of this seminal work, as it is for his entire output. As he himself stated, “It’s best to consider everything as color.” (Judd in Exh. Cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Donald Judd, 1989, p. 94). Judd’s realization that space is not discovered or identified, but rather “made by thought,” catalyzed a new idea about objects and their relationship to abutting surfaces-neither propped by pedestals nor encircled by frames. Having famously sought to abandon any evidence of the authorial hand, Judd nevertheless has created a compelling visual object in its own terms.