James Turrell at LACMA

On Tuesday I went back to LACMA for a visit to the James Turrell retrospective.  He was born in Pasadena in 1943, went to Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate School as well as UC Irvine.  Light has been his focus through out his career such as light streaming through the forest and openings in the sky or walls.  His works create opportunities for visitors to experience light as a primary physical presence...not just a tool to see.  His exhibit invites us to contemplate and meditate on the experience of viewing light in different forms. 

In 1966, he created "Afrum (White)" which is a large room where one sees a luminous cube floating in one corner and with a blink of an eye or shift in position, the cube disappears and the light falls flat on the surface of the wall, calling attention to its delicate and elusive nature.

From 1966 to 1974, Turrell's studio was in the former Mendota Hotel in Santa Monica.  He sealed off two main spaces to all external light and let in outside light through small scratches that allowed small slivers of light to enter thus orchestrating sequences of light projected inside the darkened studio.

Recently he has created Holograms which seem to hold multidimensional fragments of light.  These seem to be three-dimensional projections in various colors and shapes.

Turrell has created Skyspaces all over the world where indepentent stuctures consist of enclosed chambers with benches along the interior walls, programmed lighting, and an opening in the ceiling that lets the viewer see the interplay of sky, light, and atmosphere.  More than 75 have been built on 5 continents. 

Above is the "Raemar Pink White," 1969 and below is "Purusa," 2011
The Raemar Pink White is an early work know as a Shallow Space, in which a space is filled with light.

Purusa  is one of Turrell"s Ganzfelds...meaning complete field and a psychological term for the disorienting effect of being immersed in a homogeneous visual field.  While standing in this large room with only 5 others, I began to see amazing visual perceptions seeming like fog or mist and then various forms of people and things on the blank wall.  They only allowed us in there for 10 minutes which is perhaps a good idea.

The Perceptual Cell is for one viewer at a time to enter a spherical chamber on a sliding bed then surrounded by saturated lights.  They say it offers the potential for transformation and psychological growth through heightened perception...if you are not claustrophobic.

Turrell explored the Western U.S. in his single-engine airplane for seven months in 1974 and discovered Roden Crater in Arizona.  This dormant volcano has been the sight of his momumental artwork for nearly 40 years.  He has created a series of tunnels, rooms, and openings as celestial viewing chambers designed to sample and track light from the sky and mark astronomical events.  Above is a model of his work and below is Turrell standing with the Roden Crater behind.  "As viewers of his work, we are invited to slow down and consider the very ways in which we see." (Elizabeth Gerber. LACMA)