James Turell

Born to Quaker parents, Turell was born in 1943 in Pasadena, California. His work mainly focuses on light and space. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1984. His work is represented by the Pace Gallery in New York. He received a B.A. degree in perceptual psychology from Pomona College and an M.A. degree in art from Claremont Graduate School, University of California. He is best known for his work in progress, Roden Crater. He is turning a natural cinder volcanic crater into a massive naked-eye observatory designed especially for viewing celestial phenomena. His other works "usually enclose the viewer in order to control their perception of light" (wikipedia.org).

"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" (wikipedia.org). While his work is mostly focused on light and space, it is still connected to nature. He's trying to get the viewers to connect to the space they are in and get in tune with that environment. Essentially that is what I'm doing, using photographs, sound, and film.

"Turrell's works defy the accelerated habits of people especially when looking at art. He feels that viewers spend so little time with the art that it makes it hard to appreciate" (wikipedia.org). I enjoy the fact that he is making art that forces the viewer to take time and actually pay attention and appreciate what they are looking at. We bypass so much beauty everyday because we are in such a hurry to live our daily lives.

http://thepacegallery.com/

http://conversations.org/story.php?sid=32

www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/