AFH Transmissions From Marfa

Since the U.S. economy shrank, artists, being luxuries, got less money. The poor, the middle class and the very rich don’t buy contemporary art. The middling rich buy it and support the museums. They don’t want to buy it when money is tight. Art is not defined by the purchaser. Artists make their work according to the circumstances and it’s their force that gets it made. My work is made for me, not for anyone, certainly not for the rich. It’s up to me to see that it exists. Visual art is a small, strange activity resistant and often irrelevant to much in the U.S. Art is not “elitist”, except that some artists are better than others, and it is not cultural decoration for American imperialism. Donald Judd, from a “Letter to Irving Sandler in reference to the panel at the College Art Association 1973”