Continuing my clear obsession with James Turrell during this project, I delved deeper into his practice and what he had to say about the work he produced. I watched a few hours of talks and interview with him an wrote down a few quotes that really resinated with me and my own current project and practice in general.
“wanted the work to be light not of light”
“using light as a material to perfect the medium of perception”
“stepping into the painting”
“not everybody will sit in a darkened room before they begin to see”
“experience the materiality of the light and air that fills those spaces”
“without image, without focus, what do you have left”
“we drink light”
“light often obscures and decides a space”
My own thoughts after researching:
It gives the air some substance, making it visible.
he couldn’t see the audience because the lights were shining on him, I like the idea of light obscuring the vision and almost contradicting its purpose. Light does a similar thing on film/camera that it did to him in the talk.
the artwork could just be the experience felt whilst being with/in the light.
