ART CITIES:New York-James Turrell

James Turrell’s work involves explorations in light and space that speak to viewers without words, impacting the eye, body, and mind with the force of a spiritual awakening. He studied mathematics and perceptual psychology, and his background as a Quaker and training as a pilot also inform his practice. After his first sculptures using fire, James Turrell began to construct projections that produce illusionistic geometric shapes.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive

“67 68 69” focus exclusively on Turrell’s first light works from the late ‘60s. The exhibition includes a selection of early light works and schematic drawings by Turrell from the late ‘60s, highlighting the artist’s investigation of color, light, perception and space. 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 created variations on all of his projections, exploring the relationship between form and color. The exhibition features “Afrum”, Turrell’s first projection. A projection of a cube floating in a corner, “Afrum” synthesizes Turrell’s interest in art history especially in Suprematism, with more psychological and phenomenological pursuits.

Info: Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street &  32 East 57th Street, New York, Duration: 6/5-18/6/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.pacegallery.com