Donald Judd Specific Objects 1965

What is this new art form that Judd is speaking of and how does it challenge both the nature of painting and sculpture?

Judd is clearly talking about three-dimensional artwork in this excerpt, but it is difficult to understand exactly what this art is because, as Judd states, this work doesn't constitute a single movement, school, or style. He is talking neither about painting nor sculpture, but a type of three-dimensional work that evades the definition of both. It is a challenge to painting and sculpture.

The problem with conventional painting is that it is placed on a flat rectangular surface which is then put flat up against the wall. This rectangle is a shape that limits and defines what is contained in the painting. The end of the canvas is simply the end of the picture. This new "painting," being on a three-dimensional surface challenges the basis of painting itself. Abstract Expressionism was a move in this direction because it brought attention to the rectangular canvas instead of merely the picture contained within it. The new art that Judd is praising is meant to be looked at as a whole, not as a picture contained within a picture plane.

While this work may more closely resemble sculpture, Judd believes that it is actually closer to painting. He states this because the new art is composed as a whole, not part by part as most sculpture is. The act of composing a three-dimensional artwork as a whole and using much of the basic formal elements of painting, yet not limiting it by a flat rectangular surface, makes the new art that Judd is relating to, an art that challenges preconcieved ideas of both painting and sculpture.