Turrell

Turrell

Introduction

Since the 1960s, James Turrell has created an expansive body of work that offers profound revelations about perception and the materiality of light. With their refined formal language and quiet, almost reverential atmospheres, his installations celebrate the optical and emotional effects of luminosity.

Turrell emerged as one of the foremost artists associated with what is known as the Light and Space movement, which began in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Building on his early research into sensory deprivation (particularly the Ganzfeld effect, in which viewers
experience disorienting, unmodulated fields of color), his art encourages a state of reflexive vision that he calls “seeing yourself seeing,” wherein we become aware of the function of our own senses and of light as a tangible substance. These perceptual concerns are coupled with a deep commitment to the natural world and an interest in orienting his work around celestial events. The latter is manifested most fully in Turrell’s Roden Crater Project (1979– ), his magnum opus currently under construction at an extinct volcano near Flagstaff, Arizona.

This exhibition, Turrell’s first solo
presentation in a New York museum since 1980, considers the dominant themes explored by the artist for nearly fifty years, focusing on his explorations of perception, light, color, and space and the critical role of site specificity in his practice. It features a selection of early works, drawn from the museum’s Panza Collection as well as loans, that introduces visitors to the artist’s first statements in light. However, the show’s centerpiece is Aten Reign (2013), a major new project created specifically for the Guggenheim that reimagines the rotunda of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic building as one of Turrell’s luminous and immersive
Skyspaces. Opened on the summer solstice, the installation fills the museum’s central void with shifting natural and artificial light and intense, modulating color, creating a dynamic perceptual experience that exposes the materiality of light.

Aten Reign

James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
For his exhibition at the Guggenheim, Turrell has created a major new installation entitled Aten Reign (2013), radically transforming the museum in the tradition of his most sweeping, large-scale projects. For the first time, the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda can be experienced only from below, as a volume of space floating overhead rather than a transparency to be looked across. No objects occupy the rotunda, aside from the structures the artist requires to reveal and amplify the luminous nature of the space. Turrell proposes an entirely new encounter with the building, drawing attention away from the boundaries of the
built environment toward the interior and fashioning what he has described as “an architecture of space created with light.”

In Aten Reign, daylight from the museum’s oculus streams down to light the deepest layer of a massive assembly suspended from the ceiling. Using a series of interlocking cones lined with LED fixtures, the installation surrounds this core of daylight with five elliptical rings of shifting, colored light that echo the banded pattern of the museum’s ramps. As is typical of Turrell’s work, the apparatus that creates the effect is mostly hidden from view, encouraging viewers
to interpret what they see by means of their own perception. The work promotes a state of meditative contemplation in a communal viewing space, rekindling the museum’s founding identity as a “temple of spirit,” as articulated by Hilla Rebay, the Guggenheim’s first director and a pioneer in the promotion of nonobjective art.

Additional Views of Aten Reign

James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight and LED light. Temporary site-specific installation, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr

Early Works

James Turrell, Afrum I (White), 1967. Projected light, dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Panza Collection, Gift 92.4175 © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
In 1966 Turrell moved into a building formerly known as the Mendota Hotel in Ocean Park, California, where he embarked on a groundbreaking series of works exploring the ways light can manipulate the perception of space, grouping them into broad categories based on similarities in structure and perceptual effects. In Afrum I (White) (1967), one of the earliest of what Turrell calls Cross Corner Projections, visitors encounter a glowing cube floating in the corner of a room; what first appears to be a solid object resolves upon closer inspection into simple planes of light. The Single Wall Projection Prado (White)
(1967), on the other hand, seems to dematerialize space, dissolving the wall and creating a passage to an unknown space beyond. The Shallow Space Construction Ronin (1968) reverses this effect, emanating light so that a vertical architectural fissure appears as a solid plane and dematerializes the darkened wall.

Turrell left Ocean Park in 1974 and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he began to develop a series of light spaces and natural observatories at Roden Crater. At the same time, he continued to conceive installations for gallery spaces, including
the Space Division Constructions. These pieces, including Iltar (1976), create an effect that may be read alternately as a flat panel of color hanging on a wall, a foggy void, or an opening into a separate chamber. Turrell also began to create works on paper, including several portfolios of etchings in which he explored the qualities of light that could be transmitted through the aquatint technique. First Light (1989–90) depicts the formal permutations around which he conceived his first projections, invoking the radiant power of the actual installations through white geometric shapes framed with rich black ink.

Additional Views of Early Works

James Turrell, Prado (White), 1967. Projected light, dimensions variable. Collection of Kyung-Lim Lee Turrell © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Ronin, 1968. LED light, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Iltar, 1976. Tungsten light, dimensions variable. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Panza Collection, Gift 91.4077 © James Turrell. Photo: David Heald © SRGF
James Turrell, Meeting (from the portfolio First Light), 1989–90. Aquatint, plate: 99.4 x 69.1 cm; sheet: 108 x 75.6 cm. Peter Blum Edition, New York © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Edition, New York
James Turrell, Carn (from the portfolio First Light), 1989–90. Aquatint, plate: 99.4 x 69.1 cm; sheet: 108 x 75.6 cm. Peter Blum Edition, New York © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Edition, New York
James Turrell, Acro (from the portfolio First Light), 1989–90. Aquatint, plate: 99.4 x 69.1 cm; sheet: 108 x 75.6 cm. Peter Blum Edition, New York © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Edition, New York
James Turrell, Phantom (from the portfolio First Light), 1989–90. Aquatint, plate: 99.4 x 69.1 cm; sheet: 108 x 75.6 cm. Peter Blum Edition, New York © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Edition, New York
James Turrell, Ondoe (from the portfolio First Light), 1989–90. Aquatint, plate: 99.4 x 69.1 cm; sheet: 108 x 75.6 cm. Peter Blum Edition, New York © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Edition, New York

Roden Crater

Roden Crater, Flagstaff, Arizona. View toward the northeast, 2009 © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy James Turrell studio
Roden Crater, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, lies just northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, in the San Francisco volcanic field. Turrell discovered the site in 1974 after spending seven months crisscrossing the American West in a small airplane in search of a location for a massive new project in the landscape. Standing some 600 feet above the surrounding desert with a nearly circular bowl, Roden Crater met the artist’s specifications precisely. By 1979 he had begun devising a series of mostly subterranean chambers and passageways meticulously oriented around celestial events, enabling a direct
and profound experience of the sun, moon, and stars, and with it a new understanding of the place of human consciousness amid the cosmos. When complete, the project will comprise examples of each of Turrell’s major installation types and form a massive naked-eye observatory. Uniquely positioned to accept and amplify nature’s luminosity, Roden Crater is the grand manifestation of Turrell’s work, a contemporary site where one can go, like a pilgrim, to experience the radiant power of light surrounded by an ancient natural landscape.

Additional Views of Roden Crater

James Turrell, Roden Crater: Complete Site Plan, 2009. Carbon print, 61 x 61 cm, edition of 50 © James Turrell. Photo: Courtesy James Turrell studio
Roden Crater. Aerial view, ca. 1983. Photo: Courtesy James Turrell studio
Roden Crater. Aerial view, ca. 1983. Photo: Courtesy James Turrell studio
James Turrell, Crater Bowl Plaza from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
Roden Crater. Aerial view of crater bowl, July 6, 2004. Photo: Courtesy James Turrell studio
James Turrell, Crater’s Eye from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. Day view © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Sun and Moon Space from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. View of “image stone” © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, Alpha Tunnel from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. View toward Sun and Moon Space © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, East Portal from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. Night view from the Alpha Tunnel © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, East Portal from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. Night view © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, East Portal from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. Evening view © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, East Portal from Roden Crater Project, 1979– . Site-specific installation, Flagstaff, Arizona. Day view © James Turrell. Photo: © Florian Holzherr
James Turrell, 1983 Site Plan Blueprint, 1983 (printed 2013). Inkjet print, 58.4 x 88.3 cm, edition of 100 © James Turrell. Courtesy Art & Soul, Seattle
James Turrell, 2013 Site Plan Blueprint, 2013. Inkjet print, 134.6 x 152.4 cm, edition of 100 © James Turrell. Courtesy Art & Soul, Seattle
Roden Crater, Flagstaff, Arizona. View toward the northeast, 2003. Photo: © Florian Holzherr

Biography

James Turrell in front of Roden Crater at sunset, October 2001. Photo © Florian Holzherr
Born in Los Angeles in 1943 to a Quaker mother and a father who was a school administrator, James Turrell attended Pomona College, where his studies concentrated on psychology and mathematics. He later received a master’s degree in Art from Claremont Graduate School. Turrell’s work has been widely acclaimed and exhibited since his first showing at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967, which established him a leader in the nascent Light and Space movement. His work has since been presented at major venues including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1976); the Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York (1980); the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (1982); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1984); MAK, Vienna (1998–99); the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2002–03); and the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2009–10); and was included in the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). In addition to the exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in summer 2013, Turrell’s art is on view in a solo exhibition at the Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland. The artist’s work is represented in numerous public
collections including the Tate Modern, London; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and the Israel Museum. Turrell has created more than 70 Skyspaces in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, with the first made in 1974 for Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo at his home in Varese, Italy.

Other Locations

Video

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In this video, James Turrell and curators Carmen Giménez and Nat Trotman discuss the role of light, perception, and site in Turrell’s artworks.