On October 9, 2004, Chinati inaugurated the John Wesley Gallery. Donald Judd envisioned a permanent space in Marfa for the work of John Wesley from early in the museum's history. The John Wesley Gallery features a concentrated retrospective of Wesley's paintings from the past four decades. In 1983 Judd invited Wesley to Marfa, where he completed a series of paintings that form the nucleus of Chinati's holdings.

The John Wesley Gallery is housed in a former horse stable situated near the last of the six Dan Flavin buildings. The collection of paintings and works on paper, which occasionally rotate, includes approximately 14 works that span the years 1963 to the present. Wesley's singular style incorporates a limited color palette (pastel blues and pinks dominate), a bold graphic clarity, and a sly humor, often tinged with eroticism.

The collection includes:

Al Capone Flouting the Law, 1970
Slowly Ascending Camel, 1966
Captives, 1983
George Gordon, Lord Byron, as a Cranky Sailor, 1989
Louis Brandeis in his Middle Years, 1963, Collection Judd Foundation
Running Men, 1982
Sorry,1993
Tour de France, 1982
Untitled, 1999
Elves, 1979
Flavin's Official, 1965
Hunting Dogs, 1985
Dancing Frogs and Waiting Shark, 1962
Japanese Ladies, 1984

John Wesley was born in 1928 in Los Angeles and currently lives in New York. Major exhibitions include: The Bumsteads, Fredericks & Freiser, New York (December 2006-February 2007); John Wesley: Works on Paper since 1960, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld and Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany (2005-06); Don't Eat My Eagle: Paintings from the 1960's, Fredericks & Freiser, New York (2005); John Wesley Paintings 1961-2000, MoMA/P.S.1, New York (2001); John Wesley: Paintings, Gemalde, Schilderijen, 1963-1992, Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1993).

More images

A Conversation with John Wesley by Marianne Stockebrand (PDF: 2 MB)