Pioneer of Light and Space: James Turrell

^“My work is about space and the light that inhabits it. It is about how you confront that space and plumb it with vision. It is about your seeing, like the wordless thought that comes from looking into fire.”

In his often ethereal, atmospheric works, James Turrell explores the malleability of light and its infinite spectrum of effects as well as his own ability to accentuate and control the ever-elusive element. Carving a vast crater into the middle of the Arizona desert, trapping colored fluorescence into a prism, creating an entire exhibition space out of light that the viewer can physically interact with—Turrell toys with our perceptions of space, depth and light, challenging our habits of looking at and interacting with art.

Space that Sees, 2009, Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Alta, 1968

The Light Inside, 1999, MFA Houston

The Light Inside (second view)

Bridget's Bardo, 2009, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany

Spread, 2003, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle

The artist had an unlikely beginning—born into a Quaker family of doctors and engineers in Pasadena, California in 1943, Turrell studied mathematics, astronomy, geology and psychology—all principles that would later emerge in his artwork. He began to gain widespread notoriety for his art in the mid-1960’s, when he became associated with a group of Los Angeles artists (including Bruce Nauman and Robert Irwin) who pioneered what is now known as the Light and Space Movement. Turrell currently resides in Flagstaff, Arizona—at least until the completion of his most ambitious project to date (slated for 2012), Roden Crater, a dormant volcano that has been in the process of artistic transformation into a celestial observatory under Turrell’s hands for the past 32 years.

Interior view of Roden Crater, 1977-present, Flagstaff, Arizona

Exterior view of Roden Crater

John Coplans writes that Turrell’s work possesses “considerable iconic power… the compelling sensuousness of the light and its inexhaustible brilliance are almost hypnotic…[the unconcealed light source] does not rationalize the total effect but adds to its vividness and mysteriousness.”

Turrell himself articulates,

“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.”

Indeed, his artwork demands direct confrontation, creating an inescapable psychological and physical dialogue with its viewers. Turrell has created a form of art that is impossible to glance at for a mere 13 seconds—the viewer is forced to walk through his pieces, to confront his or her own perceptions of and reactions to the space and to experience the transcendent, ever-changing elements (both natural and manipulated) that affect it.

A snazzy photo of the artist in his younger years

Turrell is currently represented by Pace Gallery in New York. A selection of his works are currently on display at the 54^th Venice Biennale, which will run through June 2011, within the ILUMMInazioni pavilion curated by critic and art historian Bice Curger.

Swedish Vampires and Freud

Well... since I spent last night (and a good part of the early morning too, to my great dismay) writing a paper for my Literary & Cultural Theory class comparing Freud's famous 1919 essay "The Uncanny" to a Swedish vampire film from 2008 called Let the Right One In, or, more fittingly, Låt den Rätte Komma In (Scandinavian languages are the best!!), I figured I'd blog about it. And frankly, there hasn't been quite enough fire to borrow around here lately...

Though the film follows the development of a relationship between a young outcast named Oskar living in a suburb outside of Stockholm with his single mother and the pale, oddly-behaved androgynous child next door, Eli (who is soon revealed to be a vampire, and who is not really a girl... complicated stuff, folks) this is far from tween Twilight fare. John Adjvide Lindqvist's script touches upon much darker themes.

Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar (...could he look more Swedish, please?)

The delicate integration between the familiar and the unknown, which Freud delineates as an essential element of that which is "uncanny," emerges as a common trope throughout Let the Right One In. Visually speaking, there is a significant stillness and almost unnatural quietness to Alfredson’s filmic imagery; in the utterly frozen landscape shots, waning wintry light and forthright, frank depictions of would-be grisly murder acts (without the use of the usual dramatic “horror-movie-esque” heavy brass chords announcing danger).

I won't give anything else away, but suffice it to say that you should see this film, even if you aren't a foreign-movie buff or a slasher film aficionado. It's not gruesome or terrifying but it does harness a definite eerie-ness, and can be looked at as a love story, a coming-of-age allegory, a subtle cultural criticism, you name it... Alfredson's juxtapositions of light with dark, tenderness with violence, familiar and unfamiliar result in a work of art that demonstrates the uncanny in its most beautiful sense. Not to mention, the two young leads are phenomenal.

Lina Leandersson as Eli, Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar

Below, a link to the official trailer-- which I must say, makes the film look a great deal more like a horror film than it actually is (in my humble opinion). Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp4g9p_rgo

...and a link to Freud's essay, "The Uncanny," just in case you have a LOT of time on your hands and/or are interested in psychology...

http://homepage.mac.com/allanmcnyc/textpdfs/freud1.pdf

Fun fact: the title of the film, which is based on Lindqvist's novel of the same title, apparently came from the Morrissey song "Let the Right One Slip In," which refers to the legend that vampires must be invited into homes before they can enter (this concept is explored in probably the most disturbing scene in the film). Good ol' Moz... inspiring Scandinavian cinema and whatnot.