James Turrell

born 1943 in Los Angeles
lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona



James Turrell, one of the most famous representatives of the international art scene, engages with the many and varied appearances of natural and artificial light throughout his work.

Turrell pushes at the borders of perception: his installations and environments make it possible to experience light as an artistic medium. The rooms are not lit in the traditional sense, rather they are filled with light and colour. In such lit spaces, the architecture seems dematerialised - plane, colour and space interact, immersing the viewer in a mysterious, painterly world. The timelessness and fascination surrounding his work are mainly due to the fact that Turrell succeeds in allowing us to experience light directly as a form of reality, without the use of symbolism or pictorial representation.

Exhibitions (selections):

2007 Häusler Contemporary Zurich, Switzerland
2006 Singapore Biennale 2006: BELIEF
2005 IVAM, Valencia, Spain
2004 Kunsthaus Zug, Switzerland
2003 Sonoma County Museum, California, USA
2002 National Gallery of Fine Art, Washington D.C., USA
2002 Hudson River Museum, New York, USA
2001 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2001 Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Phoenix, USA
2001 Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
1998 MAK, Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria
1997 Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
1994 Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
1992 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
1992 Secession, Vienna, Austria
1991 Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
1987 Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
1983 Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1980 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

James Turrell at www.artnet.de