Published on the occasion of the exhibition Donald Judd: Artwork: 1980 at Gagosian, New York, this book reproduces photographs and schematic drawings of an untitled plywood work by Judd from 1980. At 80 feet wide, the artwork is the largest single plywood construction the artist ever produced.
The work was made in Douglas fir and defined by horizontal and diagonal planes.
Bound in corrugated cardboard, the book features no text on the exterior. This materiality felt appropriate to translate Judd’s desire to realise “the simple expression of complex thought”. The texts are printed on semi-translucent paper, echoing the draftsmanship, the planning and the production of the piece. Text columns are laid out to suggest the interplay between the negative and positive spaces in the work.
The book is typeset in GT America designed by Noël Leu, with Seb McLauchlan distributed by Grilli Type. GT America is the missing bridge between 19th-century American Gothics and 20th-century European Neo-Grotesk typefaces. It uses the best design features from both traditions.
Contributors: Flavin Judd, Rudi Fuchs, Martha Buskirk, Margot Willett, Friedrich Teja Bach, Kaspar König, Markus Brüderlin.
2021
