James
Turrell was born in Los Angeles in 1943. He obtained an MFA in art from the
Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California. Turrell’s work uses light
and space, often on a massive scale, without words yet always astounding. Turrell’s
medium is pure light. He says “my work has no object, no image and no focus.
With no object, no image and no focus, what are you looking at? You are looking
at you looking. What is important to me is to create an experience of wordless
thought.” Turrell says “I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously
plumbed with seeing, like the wordless though that comes from looking in a
fire.” Turrell studied perceptual psychology and optical illusions so in his
art he is able to allow us to see ourselves “seeing”. Turrell is influenced by
his Quaker faith, which he describes as having a “straightforward, strict
presentation of the sublime”.
“I make
spaces that apprehend light for our perception, and in some ways gather it, or
seem to hold it… my work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing,
although it is a product of my seeing.” Turrell’s work stimulates more
self-awareness through silent observation, patience and meditation.
Turrell an experienced pilot has flew over
twelve thousand hours flying, he thinks of the sky as his studio, material and
canvas. It was because of this he was able to find and start a massive project
at Roden Crater, an extinct volcano in northern Arizona. He bought the land and
has now spent over thirty years moving earth to create light filled spaces and
a naked eye observatory. The Roden Crater is not yet open to the public, but
hopefully at the age of 70 now Turrell will be able to see it finished. Turrell
has works in twenty two countries which are open to the public.
I really
like Turrell work, due to the scale and the way that it makes people just
observe what they could usually but just don’t do. It allows people to look at
everyday things differently, as his work does actually change the colours and
light of the normal sky. The fact that he has spent over 30 years working on
one of his pieces just makes me feel how strongly he feels about his work, and
makes me want him to see it finished. I would love to see some of his art in
the future, and just watch the sky for a bit.
There are a
lot of other artists who work with light, although none are exactly like James
Turrell. Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and
large-scale installation art; he uses basic materials such as light, water and
air temperature. Unlike Turrell’s very rural work, Eliasson’s art is often in
the middle of cities. His installation at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in
Denmark could be seen for miles, and its vigorous colour scheme set off the
city streets. Another artist who uses light is Angela Bulloch; Bulloch uses
video, sound and light to explore pre-edited systems. Many of her pieces use
biofeedback systems, such as her 1994 work Betaville, a machine painting
vertical and horizontal stripes on a wall, was triggered whenever someone sat
on the bench in front of it. Bulloch was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997
but lost out to Gillian Wearing.
