Curator, Ann Temkin: Judd began as a painter and worked for several years in two dimensions before becoming the maker of three dimensional objects that we all know him for today. Walking into this first gallery, we encounter Judd's true beginnings as a sculptor.
Instead of expensive sculptural materials, like marble or bronze, he's wanting to use pipe and wood and nails and discarded materials to make three dimensional things. For me, he was announcing himself as somebody who was going to make art from the ordinary.
What you also notice going on in this gallery is that almost everything is painted with a cadmium red light paint. After trying a variety of colors, he realized that this was one that was very clearly indicative of edges and outlines. It would make them very sharp and apparent. And that was interesting to Judd.