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Turrell lights
No one should miss the James Turrell exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery
I hadn't been by the new permanent Skyspace exhibit much since construction was completed, but remember it going up in various stages. I went Thursday evening, walking there after dark in the light rain. On the footbridge you approach diffuse lighting, soft pastel colors, illuminating the perimeter, a ridged, almost corrugated surface. Nearly uniform colors, slowly changing from purple to lavender to blue to green to red to pink and so on. We saw it at various points and perspectives and colors through the evening.
Inside the museum, we access the inside of the work across a short footbridge, through the elements and then a small portal.
For some reason I had in mind that it was a circular cylinder, so the first impression was a surprise. The interior is an oval shaped room, with a fine finished wood bench about the perimeter. The floor is black, speckled with white. The walls are white, as is most of the ceiling, except for a shape like the inside of an egg, bubbled up and lit blue like the sky. The floor reflects the light from above. The whole space is diffuse, very subdued. The shapes and surfaces, and the lighting, all combine to make the levels and surfaces deceptive of what is flat and horizontal. Very cool. In good weather and daylight they let the natural light shine through the upper opening.
But that's not all.
There were around 6 other Turrell pieces, each uniquely combining space and light. One was a room entered through an opening reached by climbing a short ascent of pyramid steps. Looking on the portal from outside on edge, it was a flat blue screen; people approached it and appeared about to pass through a wall. Inside, the room was all blue, difficult to precisely say where were the edges. The floor ramped down and expanded. Looking back, the opening was a dark contrast, beyond which another room opened to a dark space, people disappearing into it.
The dark room opposite contained models of a work under construction at Roden crater near Flagstaff, Arizona. Six years from completion, people will arise through a tunnel to the center of the crater's bowl, with the sky arching overhead.
Another room was very dark, black floor, walls, ceiling. Except for a lightly lit area in the rear; in red, it angled off like a broad cut from concentric cylinders. After sitting there for some time, it looked like the wall on the way out had a broad curve to it. I had to touch it to tell it was flat (and then find my way out).
Another wall with two comfy chairs before it, had what looked like a small screen that flickered lights of different pastel hues, changing irregularly over time. Sometimes the color would go black, and this black looked dark like a black hole, reflecting no light at all.
The whole installation was fantastic. Everyone should see it. Except for the Skyspace, the other works are being removed in February, so don't delay.
This entry was posted on December 7th, 2003 at 00:00:00 by JRP and is filed under human nature, art.
1 comment
Every year since seeing this installation in Seattle, I have checked on progress with Turrel’s work on Rodin crater. So far it has not been declared finished. I may have to go there in spite of it being incomplete.
