James Turrell, born on May 6, 1943 to Quaker parents in LA, California, is an American artist. He’s known for his pioneering work in the realm of light and space. Turrell's profound exploration of perception and spirituality through light has earned him international acclaim and a lasting legacy as a luminary in contemporary art.
Turrell’s Quaker heritage plays a large role in his life. He registered as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, using his pilot license to rescue buddhist monks from Tibet. He also spent a year in jail for teaching young men to dodge the Vietnam draft. At Pomona College, he studied psychology, mathematics, astronomy, and geology. He began to dabble in art, specifically light projections, at the University of California, but ended up graduating from Claremont University with his Masters of Arts degree.
At university, Turrell began associating with artists in the Light and Art Movement. There he developed his signature: using shape and artificial light to create mesmerizing aura installations in darkened spaces, which are coined “Skyspaces”.
Turrell’s lifelong project and most notable work, Roden Crater, lies in the remains of a volcano. In 1979, he came across an extinct cinder cone volcano in Arizona and proceeded to spend the subsequent decades excavating and designing tunnels. The finished project aims to be a naked-eye observatory meant for experiencing celestial phenomena. Originally, they planned to finish the installation in 2011, but funding and lack of volunteers has pushed back the completion date. It’s currently unaccessible to the public, and only the artists close friends and patrons have been able to enter and experience it. Kanye West in 2019 was able to shoot a film in Roden Crater, which you can view here.
What I love most about Turrell’s art is the meditative environments they create that blur the line between the physical and the ethereal. I think part of the fascination with his art (at least, my fascination with his art) is the slow nature of it. The art world is a fast paced community; museums often feel like a conveyer belt. But, Turrell’s installations force the viewer to linger. Turrell himself said:
“I feel my work is made for one being, one individual. You could say that's me, but that's not really true. It's for an idealized viewer. Sometimes I'm kind of cranky coming to see something. I saw the Mona Lisa when it was in L.A., saw it for 13 seconds and had to move on. But, you know, there's this slow-food movement right now. Maybe we could also have a slow-art movement, and take an hour”.
His work invites us to pause, contemplate, and see the world in a new and illuminating way.