Edited by Ursula Sinnreich. Text by Gernot Böhme, Julian Heynen, Agostino de Rosa.
Nobody who has experienced an installation by James Turrell forgets the encounter--he makes light tangible in ways that boggle perception and almost seem to defy physics, as if you could reach into the space you see when you close your eyes. A lifelong explorer of perceptual psychology, Turrell is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary light artist, as well as one of America's most popular artists. In Geometry of Light, the first significant Turrell survey in many years, an extraordinary body of work covering several decades is assessed. At the book's center is the series of works known as Sky Spaces, a signature Turrell conception in which the sky is made to seem "on top of" the room's ceiling, and which has become a mini-genre unto itself within light art. Academic, philosophical and art-historical essays explicate these perceptual spaces, whose evolution is closely allied to Turrell's development of the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, where he began constructing an observatory in 1974. Also included is the latest installation, "Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space," which Turrell conceived for the Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst in Unna, Germany. As an undergraduate, James Turrell (born in Los Angeles, 1943) studied psychology and mathematics, transitioning to art only at MFA level. A practicing Quaker, one of his earliest memories is of his grandmother inviting him to "go inside and greet the light" at Quaker meetings. The recipient of several prestigious awards such as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Turrell lives in Arizona.
I will never forget the first time I encountered a piece by the visionary California Light artist, James Turrell. During the summer of 2005, I studied at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London. The month-long intensive program revolved around gallery and museum outings throughout the city and English countryside. On one such outing, we visited a pretty mind-blowing exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, called Color after Klein. My classmates and I wandered around the group show for a while before I eventually ended up alone, seated in front of a giant wall of gradating color. The subtle shifts in the light spectrum were so painstakingly slow they were almost imperceptible. I sat there mesmerized, staring into the sea of hypnotic hues until the noise of the gallery and other artworks faded away; I dissolved with them. Forty minutes later I re-emerged to find my friends, spine tingling and teetering on the brink of a full-on religious experience. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 11.75 in. / 128 pgs / 94 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $72.5 ISBN: 9783775723695 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 11/30/2009 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Edited by Ursula Sinnreich. Text by Gernot Böhme, Julian Heynen, Agostino de Rosa.
Nobody who has experienced an installation by James Turrell forgets the encounter--he makes light tangible in ways that boggle perception and almost seem to defy physics, as if you could reach into the space you see when you close your eyes. A lifelong explorer of perceptual psychology, Turrell is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary light artist, as well as one of America's most popular artists. In Geometry of Light, the first significant Turrell survey in many years, an extraordinary body of work covering several decades is assessed. At the book's center is the series of works known as Sky Spaces, a signature Turrell conception in which the sky is made to seem "on top of" the room's ceiling, and which has become a mini-genre unto itself within light art. Academic, philosophical and art-historical essays explicate these perceptual spaces, whose evolution is closely allied to Turrell's development of the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, where he began constructing an observatory in 1974. Also included is the latest installation, "Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space," which Turrell conceived for the Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst in Unna, Germany.
As an undergraduate, James Turrell (born in Los Angeles, 1943) studied psychology and mathematics, transitioning to art only at MFA level. A practicing Quaker, one of his earliest memories is of his grandmother inviting him to "go inside and greet the light" at Quaker meetings. The recipient of several prestigious awards such as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Turrell lives in Arizona.
