MARFA, TEXAS

November, 2018

Yup – that’s right, a town named Marfa.  We heard that Marfa was a sleepy desert town until the east coast artists took over; we heard that Marfa was taken over by hippies in the 1960s and never given back; and we heard that Marfa was the Brooklyn of Texas and filled with hipsters, coffee shops, and expensive real estate.  We had to find out for ourselves.

Located 90 some miles southwest of Fort Stockton, MARFA’s claim to fame is that the movie “Giant” starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker, and Dennis Hopper was filmed here in 1956, and the lobby of the El Paisano Hotel was used as a set for the film.   Marfa Girl (2012) and Marfa Girl 2 (2018) are more recent films about life in this Texas town.

Marfa does have a unique dedication to minimalist art, and it is more hip than a city of 1700 in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas ought to be.  Founded on the principles of Donald Judd, the Chinati Foundation is home to extensive minimalist works of art.  Brian tried a joke asking whether or not Donald Judd had lived in Chicago and Cincinnati before settling in Marfa and hence the name Chinati, but the docent replied that he was born, bred and raised in Texas.  The Chinati Foundation purchased a “retired” army base, which became home for his works of art.  The indoor pieces are housed in 2 re-purposed vehicle repair shops; the windows had been the garage doors in their past.

If minimalism is not to your liking, 2 side-by-side galleries might be more to your taste.  On loan from the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, one gallery was displaying Warhol’s “Last Supper” series of paintings.  Its sister gallery was showing Maria Zerres’ series of 2005 paintings entitled “September Eleventh.”  The galleries are part of  The Ayn Foundation, a wholly-owned affiliate of the Arnulf Rainer Museum in New York City.

Great times in Marfa!

Barbara and Brian