The culmination of a three-decade long preoccupation with the trinity of colour, material and space, Untitled is a quintessential example of Donald Judd’s unparalleled creative practice, dominated by rigorous conceptual principles and articulated within a discrete vocabulary of meticulous formal clarity and unwavering commitment to the fundamental elements of art. Suspended in space, anodised aluminium and tinted acrylic sheets serve as an arena for a complex interplay of intense reflections and spatial dispersion of light, generating a subtle tension between positive and negative space across a masterfully divided, luminous volume. Formal austerity and chromatic sophistication are then fused to form the ultimate embodiment of Judd’s intricate aesthetic: “Color, like material, is what art is made from” (Donald Judd cited in: Exh. Cat., Hanover, Sprengel Museum Hannover, ‘Donald Judd: Colorist’, 2000, p. 114).

Deceptively simple in appearance, Untitled represents an uncompromising disavowal of painting and sculpture, at once contradicting almost all received art historical precedent. While the solid, three-dimensional material alludes to sculpture and the rectangular shape’s placement on the wall reveals clear parallels with painting, Judd instead was concerned with rejecting and redefining the conventional categories of art, seeking an aesthetic free from expressionism and metaphor. “Three dimensions are real space,” Judd explained in his pivotal essay ‘Specific Objects’; Judd’s real space “gets rid of the problem of illusionism and of literal space, space in and around marks and colors – which is riddance of one of the salient and most objectionable relics of European art. The several limits of painting are no longer present […] Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface" (Donald Judd, 'Specific Objects’ in: Donald Judd: Complete Writings 1959-1975, Halifax 1975, p. 181). Oscillating abruptly between the boundaries of sculpture and painting, Judd’s bold, self-referential objects occupy space in a way that reconceives the relationship between art object and viewer, providing the first formal articulation of Minimalism while heralding an altogether new aesthetic era. Judd’s preference for industrial materials allowed him to achieve clarity, anonymity and precision through neutral geometric shapes that place a fervent emphasis on the object as art, available all at once, devoid of figuration, narrative and cultural significance. To heighten these effects, Judd delegated the fabrication of his works to specialised technicians at Swiss aluminium manufacturing company Menizken AG, removing the last vestiges of the much-glorified artist’s hand.

Untitled’s restrained rectangular form is typical of Judd’s economy of means, a perfect conveyor of colour. Divided by a central panel, the cavernous, depth-defying interior structure radiates with a vibrant orange hue, achieved by layering amber and yellow acrylic sheets on top of each other, while the silvery metallic lustre of the outer aluminium structure remains unchanged. On the left-hand side a horizontal aluminium sheet conceals part of the structure lengthways, creating an enclosed, partially hidden space. The conjunction of unrelated materials and colours gives way to a dynamic sensory experience that extends beyond the boundary of the object, incorporating the viewer and the surrounding space. Subtle tonal and geometrical variations emerge, disappear and re-emerge from alternate vantage points, allowing new spatial relations to ensue by way of perspective and lighting. Colour itself is rendered three-dimensional. Extending the scale, immediacy and unity of the painstaking painterly investigations of colour initiated by leading artistic forbearers, such as Titian, Henri Matisse, Josef Albers, Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly and Barnett Newman, Judd’s objects assimilate colour as an inherent quality.

A remarkable example of Judd’s iconic pictorial syntax and material honesty, Untitled is thus a testament to the artist’s unique ability to draw the viewer into a sensorial experience in real time and space, unequivocally representing the absolute vanguard of post-war artistic exploration.