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‘I like to use light as a material’... ‘but my medium is really perception. I want you to sense yourself sensing. To see yourself seeing. To be aware of how you are forming the reality you see’ - James Turrell
Taken from Smithsonian Magazine Interview by Paul Trachtman in May 2003.
James Turrell, American artist born in 1943 in Los Angeles, is most acclaimed for his ‘light sculptures’ that are made using mirrors and projected lights. Though he started his career as a painter, Turrell quickly became infatuated with the immersive experience for the viewer, blurring the lines between the physical space of the gallery and the perceived space within the artwork. In the 1970’s Turrell started working on a series of Skyspaces, which are enclosed spaces with a hole in the ceiling that allows the viewer to look at the sky. The Skyspaces are designed to heighten the viewer’s awareness of the changing colors and patterns of the sky throughout the day and night.
I first encountered the works of Turrell through the world of celebrity, tasteful, I know. His wall sculpture Scorpius, Medium Elliptical Glass (2019), installed in Kendall Jenner’s Los Angeles home, featured alongside Kendall on the cover of the August 2020 issue of Architectural Digest. The sculpture is valued at a modest $750,000, and is one of the four pieces in Turrell’s ‘Constellation’ collection. These elliptical light sculptures are made out of advanced LED’s, steel, and glass. Since featuring in the magazine, I started seeing more and more of Turrell’s work across social media. His pieces are truly a transformer of interiors, lighting up and dressing plain walls with its harmonious gradient coloring and dynamic subtlety.
With a little research, I realized it was no coincidence that I discovered Turrell through celebrity. The same year Scorpius, Medium Elliptical Glass (2019) was captured in Kendall Jenner’s home, Kanye West (her former brother-in-law) donated $10 million to James Turrell’s Roden Crater project. I’m not quite sure what to make of this information or whether there is any connection between the hefty donation and the magazine cover, but it draws our attention to something worthy of our discussion. The Roden Crater. A Skyspace installation that has been in the works since 1977, is a large-scale artwork tucked away in the Painted Desert of Northern Arizona, U.S. The crater, once complete, will serve as a naked eye observatory looking up to the desert sky. Turrell consulted with multiple astronomers during the construction process to get the alignment of the twenty-four viewing spaces and six tunnels just right, allowing viewers to watch celestial events such as summer and winter solstices once the project is complete. The installation is currently closed to the public, and requires up to $200 million more in donations to be complete. Kanye West, as one of the benefactors and lucky few to have visited the exhibit labeled the experience as ‘life-changing’ in a Guardian article.
James Turrell continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in art, and challenges viewers to question their perceptions and the way they experience the material world around them. He is a true visionary, and his art serves as a portal to a world beyond our own. If you haven’t heard about him already, he is truly worth taking the time and looking into. He has ongoing exhibitions open to the public all around the world, follow the link to his website to see if you’re lucky enough to view his works in real life.
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