How the town of Martha became an American tourist mecca

A Union Pacific train travels through the desert, heading to west Texas - one of the most unusual places in the Wild West...

Marfian Chronicles

The town with the Russian name Marfa is located approximately 270 km southeast of El Paso and 570 km west of San Antonio. As of the 2010 census, Marfa's population was 1981. The town was founded in 1883 as an ordinary railway stop. They say that the name of the city was suggested by the wife of the chief engineer of the Southern Pacific railway company, who was considered either Dostoevsky or Jules Verne (in his novel “Michael Strogoff” Martha was the name of the main character’s mother). After 2 years, a hotel, a couple of saloons, as well as a bank, restaurant and post office, located inside the Humphris and Company store, had already been built in Marfa. The population, as expected, grew gradually. By 1920, 3553 people already lived in the city, and by 1930 - 3909.

This city is different from any one you have ever visited. In Marfa, at every corner you can find something interesting or funny. They say the city could become the new Austin by the number of strange attractions. Young artists and collectors of contemporary art are striving to get there, because the city’s space is filled with numerous galleries. It is curious that Foundation is written on every third house of Martha. Even the local pizzeria is called Pizza Foundation.

Let's play "in the box"?

The reason for the increased interest in Martha from the international art community is the fact that the artist and sculptor, one of the pillars of minimalism, Donald Judd (1970-1928) moved from New York to the beginning of 1994's. By avoiding the “claustrophobia of the big city” (in his words), Judd found a picturesque place where he could work in open spaces. The artist took a fancy to 2 large hangar and a huge field nearby and began to exhibit their work.

Judd used industrial materials for his works: plexiglass, sheet metal, plywood. His geometric creations strongly resemble furniture. His giant hollow boxes are piled up on the “Martha” field. You can walk through these concrete structures like through a tunnel, or hide in them. Also on display in the former hangar are several gleaming aluminum Judd cubes, the pride of the city's collection.

Currently, the artist’s works are stored in the “Martian” Chinati Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art. Judd's creations can be truly appreciated when seen here in Marfa, and not in a museum, next to other works, since the space around them is an integral part of the “exhibits”.

Contemporary artists, just like Judd, who became Marfinians and Marfushians of their own free will, are attracted to this place by its picturesque nature and the opportunity to create in a quiet environment in the fresh air. It was they who created in Marfa the atmosphere of an oasis of free, unpretentious modern art. Among the larger Marfin galleries are Hacienda del Arcon, Inde/Jacobs Gallery, Judd Foundation, Das Maximum, where works of contemporary artists are exhibited. In addition to exhibitions, the Ballroom Marfa gallery hosts film screenings and concerts, and the Marfa Studio of Arts exhibits beautiful children's drawings.

Among the smaller but notable outdoor exhibits, El Cosmico stands out, a cute little trailer covered in a knitted cover (“Trailer in a Coat” or “Knitted Trailer”) by artist Magda Sayeg, nicknamed Knitta Please. El Cosmico is a vintage mobile home motel where you can stay overnight if you wish, by appointment, of course.

Are your school years wonderful?

The “Russian spirit” is also present in Marfa. Among the exhibition pavilions is “School No. 6” (not to be confused with the ward of the same number) by the famous Russian artist living in the USA, Ilya Kabakov. The huge installation, deployed in a former military barracks, is essentially a very old abandoned village school from the times of the USSR. On the façade it says “Welcome”. Enter and you find yourself in another world. Typical classrooms with walls painted official green, corresponding paraphernalia: desks, bookcases, old slogans, announcements, lesson schedules, honor boards, portraits of Lenin, red flags, wall newspapers, children's notebooks left on the floor. On the peeling walls there are old geographical maps, stuffed birds and animals, tables of insects, fish, animals... There is a teacher's room, a cafeteria, and a gym - only everything is empty - the village is deserted, the children have left with their parents for big cities.

Ilya Kabakov donated School No. 6 to the Chinati Foundation in 1993. According to the artist himself, this installation is a nostalgic and very personal work. “Everyone who comes here probably also had a school in the past with a similar arrangement of classes and attributes in them. Who knows, maybe in everyone’s memory it is preserved in exactly the same image in which he sees this school - school No. 6.”

Say "Prada" ...

Another iconic place located near Marfa is an imitation Prada boutique right in the middle of the wide Texas prairie. It’s absurd and that’s all - why would a fashion boutique end up in the American Wild West? Fashion bags and shoes (but only for the right foot) are real, but they are not for sale. And the boutique is not a boutique at all, but a sculpture!

The installation of Prada Marfa was created by artists Elmgrin and Dragset (Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset) in 2005 year. The idea of ​​the artists was that their Prada would gradually grow old, be covered with road dust and eventually sink into the sands. Already after 3 of the day after installation, the sculpture was covered with graffiti, and the shoes and bags were stolen. After, of course, everything was repaired, returned to the site and set the alarm.

At the end of last year, the history of the sculpture store took an unexpected turn. Representatives of the Texas Transportation Authority (TxDOT), guided by the fact that in order to advertise famous brands on the roads of the country, you need to get permission, began to insist that Prada Marfa should be removed. Marfians with bated breath waiting for a final decision.

For now Prada Marfa is under constant attacks by vandals. In particular, in March of this year, "Prada" was completely covered with blue paint, and the windows were sealed with posters with the logo of the shoe company TOMS. The creators of the sculpture such manifestations of interest in art only fun.

"Marfushin lights"

Art appears and disappears, and natural phenomena, fortunately, are eternal. Martha, in particular, gained fame in connection with the phenomenon observed in the vicinity of the city, known as the "lights of Martha." Luminous balls, the size of a basketball, slowly rise above the ridges of the mountains and hang in the dark sky. According to eyewitnesses, they are able to bounce, change color and disappear when trying to get close to them. However, if you drive back a distance and look around, the lights will appear again. They move along a strange trajectory, which remains luminous for a long time and resembles a complex hieroglyph.

In the 1960s, Marfa experienced a kind of “fire fever.” People chased ghostly lights on horses and cars, organizing entire expeditions. Opinions about the nature of the Marfa lights vary greatly - ghosts, swamp gas, bursts of radioactivity, ball lightning and even navigation lights for aliens from outer space. However, skeptics who observed the Marfa lights through powerful binoculars argue that they are nothing more than the reflection of the front and rear headlights of cars rushing towards Mount Chinati along Highway 67.

Soon the Marfuans stopped fooling around and looking for an explanation for this natural phenomenon - and established the Festival of Lights in the city, which is held annually and falls on Labor Day. And for those who want to independently understand the nature of the Marfushina Lights, an observation deck was built.

Another interesting fact from the life of the city is that Marfa was the location for the filming of a number of famous films, including “Giant” (1956), “Let There Be Blood,” “Oil” (2007), “No Country for Old Men” (2007) and “ Girl from Marfa" (2012).

I would like to add that for many years Marfa for me was almost like Rio de Janeiro for Ostap Bender. As soon as you have a short vacation, your brain starts pounding: “To Marfa!” To Marfa! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get there yet. However, I am writing in the hope that you, my readers, will beat me to it and go see this magical place.

The material was first published in the newspaper. "Our Texas". Reprinted with permission of the author.

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