Journeys to the Edge of Light by James Turrell

Here is a fascinating invitation to travel, not to be missed under any circumstances, through this double of exhibitions dedicated to James Turrell, an immense artist rarely presented in France. With, in particular, a new immersive creation presented at Almine Rech, Path Taken, work in variation of light from his famous series Tall Glass / Wide Glassin progress since 2004. In this work there is all the quintessence of the research of James Turrell, who was the first to seize light as the main medium, as well as its interactions with space, generating an experience unique visual and spatial.

Optics and contemplation

The dizzying career of the artist, born in 1943 in Los Angeles, combines art and science, reflecting his unquenchable thirst for infinity and his fascination for the limitless sky. A graduate in psychology of perception, he undertook studies in astronomy, mathematics and art history. A keen reader of Saint-Exupéry, he obtained his pilot’s license at the age of 16. It crisscrosses the sky, captivated by the subtle metamorphoses of light. In his artistic work, he tames the materiality of the light which meets the viewer, and whose chromatic aura leads him to meditative contemplation.

The opinion of Jean de Loisy, art historian

It is a work of putting oneself in presence, facing an object. There is no image, no language, but a transformation through the physiology of the eye. Light has become matter, with very low frequencies. To see a work by James Turrell, we pass into a black space. This process of cleaning the mind is also an experience of boredom, as with Quaker meditation. [ndlr: l’artiste est fils de quakers]. This work is very close to minimal music, where a single note changes range. This sometimes goes as far as hallucination, disorientation or loss of perception.

Light tables

Turrell also places his research in specific places, such as Skyspaces open to the sky, or in its sublime Roden Crater Projecta former volcano acquired in 1979 in Arizona and which became his great experimental work, a naked-eye astronomical observatory with incredible architecture. In his series Tall Glass / Wide Glasshe explores the nuances and modulations of light and colors perceived through the framing of an aperture which is like a window onto infinity. At Turrell, the light lives. It is pure revelation.