About the Work
Styled as a carnival broadside, John Waters's satirical Visit Marfa uses touristic proclamations and garish graphics to lampoon Minimalist artist Donald Judd's fiefdom in western Texas. This print graced the cover of Artforum's Summer 2004 issue devoted to Judd, who is the subject of a cult of personality that interprets his megalomania and humorless aesthetic as New Age spirituality and leaves the design quiz "Ikea or Judd?" difficult to answer. Each of the print's declarations spoof different aspects of Judd, his enterprise, and Marfa the town. Waters brazenly compares Marfa to a mass tourist destination, a point that would have Judd turning in his grave.
About the Artist
Inspired by B-films and melodramas, John Waters began making films as a teenager, using friends and stolen film stock. His films feature drag queens, drugs, violence, abortion, religion, and depravity, poking fun at their offensiveness while wallowing in it. Later, bigger budget films star Hollywood icons, while still rollicking in poor taste and tackiness.
In the 1990s, Waters started photographing videos on his television, which he edited into “little movies”: various drugstore-processed stills strung together as horizontal filmstrips. These works have been exhibited widely and a traveling exhibition premiered at the New Museum, New York, NY. Waters has authored several journalistic books, a recent memoir, and is an avid art collector. In 2011, he curated an exhibition from the collection of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN.
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