The Judd Foundation, which preserves Donald Judd's legacy and manages the late artist's two former studios in New York and Marfa, Texas, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against two galleries, claiming they caused irreparable damage to one of Donald Judd's works. while they were in your care. In the complaint, filed with the Manhattan Supreme Court, the foundation alleges that Tina Kim Gallery and the New York-based Kukje Gallery, which has locations in Seoul and Busan, South Korea, violated a consignment agreement by leaving prints. in a work Untitled (1991), in aluminum and Plexiglas.
Donald Judd was a pioneering artist known for his papers and his works, which he called “specific objects”, produced according to his precise instructions. The artist has historically been considered a minimalist, a label he has always rejected.
The work at the center of the process, Untitled (1991), derives from the artist's “Menziken” series, in which he produced a set of aluminum wall boxes made with translucent Plexiglas glass. Us court documents, the Judd Foundation claims that in 2015 it consigned the work to Kukje and Tina Kim, who are affiliated with each other and owned by members of the same family, to be sold. In March of that year, the dealers showed their work at a joint booth at the Frieze New York art fair.
The Judd Foundation claims that between 2015 and 2018, while the work was in the possession of dealers, it suffered “irreversible” damage due to mishandling. According to the lawsuit, the anodized aluminum surface on each of Judd's "Menziken" sculptures requires "very careful handling and, if handled poorly, can easily scar." The complaint continues: “Any fingerprints on the anodized aluminum surface must be removed quickly or, over time, the oils in the fingerprints can react with the surface and leave permanent, disfiguring and irreversible marks.”
When the work was returned to the foundation in 2018, conservators discovered the fingerprints. According to the court filing, the gallery did not disclose the presence of fingerprints in a condition report to the foundation. Under a 2017 consignment agreement, the price of the work was $850,000. The dealers were never able to secure a buyer and the parties ended the sales contract in 2018. The foundation had labor insurance for that price and the company paid the foundation $680,000, most of its fair market value. The foundation is seeking the remaining $170,000 to be paid by the galleries to cover the cost of the damage, as they feel this work cannot be sold right now. The Judd Foundation initially filed the suit in federal court in Texas. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in August, claiming it was outside the state's jurisdiction.
