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Lot Essay
James Turrell achieves consummate artworks by executing total experiences with his light environments. Daniel Birnbaum writes, "I have, to some extent, changed my mind since last time I tried to write about him (James Turrell): his art is not only about vision. It's not exclusively about the eyes. It's just as much about the body." (cited in P. Noever, ed., James Turrell: the other horizon, Vienna 1999, p. 226). It is also just as much about the passage of time through space manifest in the fleeting moment whether that be the setting sun, the length of projection, or a viewer's vantage. All told Turrell's work is a true journey, akin to our life experience, which so many other artists strive to emulate but mostly fall short.
Looking at Turrell's career, one is struck by the consistency of his achievement. The profound experience innate to Turrell's work has been present since its earliest inceptions. An early 'white' light work like Raethro which was first shown in 1967 at Main and Hill Studio demonstrates Turrell's virtuosity at manipulating light and space. The shimmering, floating pyramid that is Raethro transcends the typical experience of art. Melinda Wortz wrote of the early Projection Pieces, "The first images all had a distinctive sculptural quality: the piece seemed to objectify and make physically present light as a tangible material. The space which these pieces occupied was definitely not the same as that which the room had without the image. The space generated was analogous to a painting in two dimensions alluding to three dimensions, but in this case three-dimensional space was being used illusionistically."
Raethro, though one of Turrell's earliest accomplishments is ripe with the complexity that has always set him apart from his contemporaries.
Looking at Turrell's career, one is struck by the consistency of his achievement. The profound experience innate to Turrell's work has been present since its earliest inceptions. An early 'white' light work like Raethro which was first shown in 1967 at Main and Hill Studio demonstrates Turrell's virtuosity at manipulating light and space. The shimmering, floating pyramid that is Raethro transcends the typical experience of art. Melinda Wortz wrote of the early Projection Pieces, "The first images all had a distinctive sculptural quality: the piece seemed to objectify and make physically present light as a tangible material. The space which these pieces occupied was definitely not the same as that which the room had without the image. The space generated was analogous to a painting in two dimensions alluding to three dimensions, but in this case three-dimensional space was being used illusionistically."
Raethro, though one of Turrell's earliest accomplishments is ripe with the complexity that has always set him apart from his contemporaries.