photographs

The Photographs of Tom Judd

An Essay by Ralph David Samuel

Tom Judd’s photographs occur as a collection of discoveries of lost places. These are portraits of vacant structures, street scenes, and locations that seem familiar yet strangely out of place.

Making such photos is a fundamental component of Judd’s art. These images are completed works, unique or collected, or as elements in his paintings, collages or installations. Though unmanipulated these photos singularly encountered may suggest “found art.” This collection clearly locates Judd’s camera as an instrument of his artistic vision, no less than his brushes and pigments.

His recurring exploration of planes and color fields continues throughout these compositions. He seeks out and frames them in complexity earned over each structure’s lifetime of practical uses. Contrasting, sometimes conflicting colors and detail added without postmodern pretense in response to their differing uses over time. They reveal elements of truth, art’s esteemed currency.

As with any collection of an artist’s works around a unifying theme, these images may tempt us to improvise the untold narratives. Here, the artist gives us a unique vision, a following upon the oculus window central in the first two images. Like a “new eye,” they implore us to leave our personal histories behind and open our minds to a fresh understanding of the world around us.