After just 15 months, Thomas Kellein has resigned from his position as director of the Chinati Foundation, in Marfa, Tex. He will continue to serve as a consultant for six months. Kellein succeeded Marianne Stockebrand, who had served as director since 1994.
An expert on Donald Judd, Kellein organized the 2002 exhibition “Donald Judd: Early Work, 1955–1968,” which appeared at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, where he was director for 14 years, and traveled to the Menil Collection, in Houston, Tex. He had lectured at Chinati on several occasions.
Existing senior staff will continue to run operations, and the foundation will not immediately move to replace Kellein, according to a statement from foundation chair Arlene J. Dayton, released today.
That’s not for lack of funds. The announcement suggests a rosy financial picture, touting the success of a recent $10 million endowment campaign and pointing out that the institution ended the 2011 fiscal year “with a better-than-expected financial surplus.”
Opened in 1986 on the site of a former military base, Chinati was originally planned to exhibit the work of Donald Judd, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin. It is now host to pieces by all of them as well as Carl Andre and several other artists. Chinati also mounts yearlong temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
