James Turrell

A few years ago I was lucky enough to experience my first James Turrell piece in the perfect circumstances. I was wandering around the MoMA by myself, listening to music on my headphones - as I am wont to do to avoid human interaction - and I came upon a darkened entryway. I walked in and was listening to a song by Love Letter Band as I slowed my pace to walk down the pitch black hallway. As I shuffled, they sang:

I was scared, scared, scared to the bone

You said there, there, but I still felt alone

I was there in the corner signing songs to myself

And they filled up the room without making a sound

And you stood there with me 

As I stood there alone

And we danced without moving 

And glowed without light

As I thought what a beautiful ghost you would make

I got scared, scared, scared to the bone

You move like a ghost and I shudder

You move like a ghost and my hair stands on end

And you're beautiful

And as I came around the corner, I was overcome, overwhelmed, enveloped, even coconed by light, by color. I really could feel it, down to my bones. It was one of the most peaceful and beautiful experiences of my life. Somehow the music was describing exactly what I was feeling, and simultaneously the light was transporting me from the reality of being awake and aware to some middle drifting ground. 

Working with light as his medium, James Turrell is recreating this with every work he makes, and has been since the 1960's. As Rhys Graham writes, Turrell creates "a sculptural distillation and articulation of these transitory moments between light and dark, reality and dream, between sight and blindness...using pure light and colour as material to explore and challenge our assumptions about perceptions about sensation."

Turrell himself has said, "Light is a powerful substance... But, for something so powerful, situation for its felt presence are fragile. I form it as much as the material allows. I like to work with it so that you feel it physically, so you feel the presence of light inhabiting a space. I like the quality of feeling that is felt not only with the eyes."

I couldn't agree more.

(top images via Triangulation, bottom image via The Buoy Archives)