operation Judd

Part of our evil backyard plans is to build a knock-off of a picnic table designed by Donald Judd, the famous minimalist sculptor who made Marfa as well as New York his home (and single-handedly brought Marfa back from the brink of a dusty death). The Donald also made minimalist furniture including his interpretation of a picnic table, examples of which can be seen at his home/complex in Marfa.

There's also a knock-off at the food pavilion in Marfa near the railroad tracks (the Food Shark, the local food trailer, is often there). With Thanksgiving dinner in our bellies (and the Food Sharkers off stuffing themselves elsewheres) we set off to closely inspect, photograph, and measure this knock-off.

The table is quite simple in design although some supporting metalwork complicates the construction (we don't think the Judd originals had metal, but the metal adds support). The metalwork on the seats is not adequate to keep the seats from warping, so we may come up with something better. The photo below shows an extra large version of his table: We plan to build just one section, which will seat 8, 10 to 12 if folks can huddle around the ends. The wide berth in the center allows a lot of room for the food and drink.

Judd stained his outdoor furniture black (I need to search old files for photos of Judd's originals...). These at the food pavilion are "natural" (I'm guessing they were done with treated lumber). We're thinking of doing ours in white if we can.

We'll have one of these by this time next year!

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