SETTLEMENT

A Panoply of Dreams

Judd’s paintings from his exhibit Settlement evokes many different responses at once. They draw me in and carry me away in many thoughts simultaneously like Schrödinger’s Cat: to a higher power.

And as always, his craft is exquisite. In Vacation House #2 his palette perfectly shifts among a range of half-light images before it emerges into a sunlit day still attenuated by the haze that so often reduces the sun’s color intensity.

Judd challenges the viewer to accept his palette and find within it the beauty of a range not favored in popular culture. Likewise, the “Settlement” in these works challenges us with many inherent contradictions and shifting foundations with the whole notion of “settlement.”

Ultimately, there is Judd’s unrestrained sense of narrative. We are left staring as at an open barn door, imagining what was here and where it has gone, and with boundless space to accommodate a panoply of dreams.

– Ralph David Samuel