James Turrell

Infobox Artist
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name = James Turrell


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birthdate = 1943
location = Los Angeles, California
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nationality = American
field = Installation art
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James Turrell (born 1943, Los Angeles) is an artist primarily concerned with light and space.

Works

He is best known for his work in progress, "Roden Crater". Located outside Flagstaff, Arizona, Turrell is turning this natural cinder volcanic crater into a massive naked-eye observatory, designed specifically for the viewing of celestial phenomena. His other works usually enclose the viewer in order to control their perception of light; a James Turrell skyspace is an enclosed room large enough for roughly 15 people. Inside, the viewers sit on benches along the edge to view the sky through an opening in the roof. He is also known for his light tunnels and light projections that create shapes that seem to have mass and weight, though they are created with only light. As a lifelong Quaker, Turrell designed the Live Oak Meeting House for the Society of Friends, with an opening or skyhole in the roof, wherein the notion of light takes on a decidedly religious connotation. (See PBS documentary).

His work "Acton" is a very popular exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It consists of a room that appears to have a blank canvas on display, but the "canvas" is actually a rectangular hole in the wall, lit to look otherwise. Security guards are known to come up to unsuspecting visitors and say "Touch it! Touch it!"

Turrell's works defy the accelerated habits of people especially when looking at art. He feels that viewers spend so little time with the art that it makes it hard to appreciate.

Past exhibitions

* City of Anhirit
* Trace elements: Light into space
* Ghost Wedge
* Pleiades (Turrell)|Pleiades
* Heavy Water (Turrell)|Heavy Water
* Afrum I
* Into the Light (Turrell)|Into the Light
* Milk Run
* Unseen Blue
* Big Red (Turrell)|Big Red

kyspace locations

* "Sky Pesher", Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, U.S.
* "Untitled", Mönchsberg, Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg, Austria
* "Kielder Skyspace", Kielder Water, Northumberland, England
* "Tending, (Blue)", Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.
* "Meeting", 1986, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
* "Upper School Lighting" 2003 Greenwich Academy
* "Light Reign", 2003, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington, U.S.
* "Three Gems", 2005, de Young Museum, San Francisco, U.S.
* "Untitled", 2005, University of Illinois at Chicago, U.S.
* "Deer Shelter", 2006, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England
* "Roden Crater", Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.
* "Live Oak Friends Meeting", 2001, [http://www.friendshouston.org Live Oak Friends Meeting] , Houston, Texas, U.S.
* "Blue Planet Sky," 2004, [http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/index.html 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art] , Kanazawa, Japan
* "Dividing the Light," 2007, Pomona College, Claremont, California, U.S.
* Norman and Norah Stone estate, Calistoga, California, U.S.
* "Knight Rise", 2001, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
* "Blue Pesher", 1999, [http://www.cheekwood.org Cheekwood] , Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

Books

* Eclipse. Documents The Elliptic Ecliptic and Arcus, two temporary installations accompanying the last total eclipse of the 20^th century. (ISBN 3-7757-0898-7)
* The Other Horizon. An overview of Turrell's development from 1967 to 2001. (ISBN 3-7757-9062-4)
* James Turrell : the art of light and space by Craig Adcock. (ISBN 0-520-06728-2)
* James Turrell. Geometrie di luce. Roden Crater Project by Agostino De Rosa. (ISBN 0-520-06728-2)

Films

* [http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Edition.nsf/0/2EDFF997057F983BC1257122005540AB?OpenDocument&sessionM=6.3.2&L=2 "Passageways" DVD published by Centre Pompidou Paris] : a presentation of the Roden Crater project
* [http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/clip2.html Art 21: James Turrell, Live Oak Friends Meeting house] , PBS Documentary, Biography in text and online clip.

Interviews

* [http://www.conversations.org/99-1-turrell.htm works + conversations interview of James Turrell]
* [http://home.sprynet.com/~mindweb/page44.htm Article from ARK Finnish Architectural Review)]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/egg/215/turrell/interview_content_1.html EGG interview with James Turrell]

References

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/ Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips] from PBS series "Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century" - Season 1 (2001).
* [http://www.henryart.org/pastex/pastex2003.htm#turrell "Knowing Light" exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery]
* [http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=ShowArtist&eid=45&id=216&c=Permanent Mattress Factory exhibition by James Turrell]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/highlights/001102_turrell.shtml BBC article about James Turrell]
* [http://www.43places.com/tag/james+turrell 43 Places: James Turrell]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/jamesturrell Flickr: jamesturrell]
* [http://d-sites.net/english/turrell.htm James Turrell: a sculptor of light]
* [http://www.lasersol.com/art/turrell/roden_crater.html Roden Crater 1978]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=35.425350,+-111.258950&ie=UTF8&ll=35.425288,-111.258888&spn=0.099736,0.158787&t=k&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1 Roden Crater on Google Maps]
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,702673,00.html Jonathan Jones writing in the Guardian about the Kielder Skyspace]
* [http://iuav.inet2.it/dpa/video/2007/turrell_animazione/turrell_animazione.html Virtual tour in the Roden Crater project by University IUAV of Venezia, Italy]