Marfa Invitational 2019

Marfa Invitational is a by-invitation international contemporary art fair. Situated in the far west Texas town of Marfa, Marfa Invitational provides an unparalleled platform for viewing and experiencing today's leading contemporary art. Taking place annually Marfa Invitational invites ten galleries - ranging from young emerging and mid-tier to blue-chip galleries - to present solo exhibitions of the foremost considered and consequential international contemporary artists. Marfa invitational will present its first edition April 4- 7, 2019.

Clare Kenny works with a variety of materials – such as found objects, building materials, plaster, ceramic, fabric, glass, neon, plexi and spraypaint – and she is informed by personal viewpoints, society, and aspirations of the working class, which will be exemplified in her installation at the fair.

In ‘enough rope to hang ‘emselves’ a neon washing line is erected with bronze and marbleised sculptural elements as hooks and hoops, replicating the washing lines strung across gardens, ginnels or other available spaces. Her ongoing series of cast plaster works, makes use of domestic buckets, bins or cake tins as moulds. Paint pigment is poured into the plaster to create a mock marbleised finish to the surface of the cast sculptures, which are then stacked or hung.

Most recently this technique has developed into a series of fountains, where water is pumped through bronze elements hung on cast plaster forms. This series developed during and since her recent residency at Residency Unlimited in New York, January-July 2018, and one work created in New York will be exhibited for the first time on the stand.

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Donald Judd first visited Marfa in 1971. Deep in its fifth decade of a draw to artists, writers, and creatives, Marfa is now home to many of todays foremost contemporary arbiters.

‍“This tiny town perched on the high plains of the chihuahua desert is nothing less than an arts world station of the cross, like art Basel or Documenta. It's a blu-chip arts destination."- Neda Ulaby

“They speak about Marfa with the same reverent tones generally reserved for pilgrimages of Vigin of Lourdes" - notes Carolina Miranda.

Last year, more than 38,000 visitors traveled from throughout the word to Marfa to view art. This year more than 45,000 art viewers, collectors, and patrons are expected. Along with both the Judd Foundation and Chinati - whos 'artists in residence' include Michael Williams, Ellen Altfest, Ryan Sullivan, Rosy Kyser, Jeff Elrod, Rita Ackermann, Mark Flood, and Charline von Heyl, among noted others - Marfa hosts several of todays top contemporary art galleries. Among them, Ballroom Marfa and United Artists Ltd. Following in the footsteps of Judd - Marfa Invitational's mission is to create a truly unique and singular viewing experience of todays leading contemporary artists.