James Turrell

James Turrell has been celebrating light for over 50 years. More than just an onlooker, Turrell has managed direct and shape space, using light. Turrell’s work somehow manages to give form to the formless and presence to that which surrounds us.

James Turrell, Roden Crater, North Arizona, U.S.A.

Colour is the reflection of light and no colour (black) is the absence of light. American James Turrell has been bouncing, shaping and prioritising light as a life’s work. Light (and as an output, colour) go hand in hand in Turrell’s work. Cleverly, Turrell has managed to give form to light by using architecture as a filter, celebrating its etherical quality.  

James Turrell.

Working in-situ at the Roden Crator (North Arizona, USA), Turrell literally maps the stars to focus light, the celestial precision giving the work a spiritual essence. ln traditional gallery spaces, Turrell uses natural and artificial light to engage viewers in two dimensional flat planes or three dimensional light filled volumes, manifesting expression from the formless.  

James Turrell, installation.

“My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity — that physical feeling and power that space can give.” James Turrell

S.W