James Turrell: The Other Horizon [Paperback]

Michael Rotondi (Author), Daniel Birnbaum (Author), Paul Virilio (Author), Peter Noever (Editor), James Turrell (Author), Georges Didi-Huberman (Contributor), Georges Didi-Hubermann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2001

In 1967, when 23-year old James Turrell created his first light projection, he broke new ground in a way that would decisively influence his generation and the development of art. Though Turrell worked in the context of Minimalism and the Earthwork movement, his art at this early stage displayed--as it still does--a sensibility all its own. This book reveals the ways in which Turrell's art has developed, and offers an extensive overview of his work from its earliest stages to the present. Turrell is above all preoccupied with the phenomenon of light--and his architectural projects and installations often transform their surroundings into transluscent sculptural bodies. From his first Projection Pieces to the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, this volume presents over 30 years of this seminal artist's work, and includes critical essays by Daniel Birnbaum, Georges Didi-Hubermann, Michael Rotondi, and Paul Virilio.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In November 1966, 23-year-old artist James Turrell moved into an old hotel in Ocean Park, California, and immediately set to work sealing off all of its windows and insulating all of the walls. There, in the newly dark and silent space that had once been filled with the constant bustling of travelers, Turrell created his first light projection, "Afrum-Proto." Essentially, it was a rectangle projected across a corner of a room in such a way that from a distance there appeared to be a solid cube floating off the floor. From there Turrell went on to explore other spatial and perceptual light installations like "skyspaces," in which rooms open up to reveal planes of the visible open sky above and dark spaces where scarcely any light can be perceived. Of his preoccupation with the phenomenon of light as an artistic medium, Turrell says, "I want to address the light that we see in dreams and the spaces that seem to come from those dreams and which are familiar to those who inhabit those places." His ethereal installations of radiant light manipulate viewers' perceptions, rather than present objects for aesthetic contemplation. His artworks are viewing chambers in which the experience of seeing is its own revelation and reward.

James Turrell: The Other Horizon is a large-scale paperback volume that covers over 30 years of this seminal artist's work. Its 108 color and 40 black-and-white illustrations, along with the thoughtful essays that accompany them, convey the subtleties of Turrell's work and lend insight into its construction. The book should be fascinating to both fans of Turrell and viewers of contemporary art. --A.C. Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Since his first one-person show at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967, Turrell has created installations and environmental pieces that use light to alter viewers' perceptions. Sometimes these involve simple wall projections that appear three-dimensional or more complex displays that confuse one's entire sense of space; larger pieces range from "skyscapes," framed holes in museum ceilings, to ongoing work on a volcanic crater he purchased in 1977. Needless to say, these are difficult to display, to reproduce, or to write about. The Museum f?r angewandte Kunst in Vienna took on those tasks with a retrospective last year, and this is the bilingual catalog. The hundreds of photographs here are surprisingly successful in offering a clear sense of the works and their effects. And the book is wisely organized around more than 120 pages on Turrell's various series, with multiple reproductions and a clear, descriptive text for each. Only the four main essays are a disappointment, unnecessarily mystical and horribly translated. Still, this is the most comprehensive and up-to-date catalog on an important American artist whose works are both aesthetically accessible and intellectually challenging. Recommended for any library with an interest in contemporary art.AEric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Hatje Cantz Publishers (March 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3775790624
• ISBN-13: 978-3775790628
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,864,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, May 3, 2001

By 

Sean M. Kelly (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: James Turrell: The Other Horizon (Paperback)

"The question is not what you look at, but what you SEE."- -H.D. Thoreau

This quote from Thoreau aptly applies to the work of Flagstaff, AZ. artist James Turrell. Turrell has been fascinated all his life with the concept of light and its use in art and architecture. Add to this his notion that the individual should experience this art alone, embracing what the piece has, and does not have, to offer, and one has the basic mindset to take on his art.

To best experience Turrell, one needs to go to an exhibit and take the time necessary to participate IN his art. Like a good book or good music, art reqires a level of active participation to fully realize the piece's potential and to maximize its impact. A Turrell exhibit is a glorious thing- each person actively participates, taking in his color concepts, becoming one with them. Whether in one of his famed "skyspaces," where the participants sit in a consistently lighted room to look through an oval shaped hole in the roof at dusk to watch the changing lighting patterns- the light from the roof diminishes and the consistent railing lighting in the room dominates- or vice versa if one sees the exhibit at dawn, to his "dark rooms" where the viewer is in a 99.9% darkened room with the faint glimpse of an outline of light, allowing the mind and eyes of the viewer to re-conceive its surroundings and realities- not unlike an ink blot test, but in the dark, Turrell's pieces are challenging the concept of light and how each of us perceive it and use it in our lives.

What his art offers is vividly displayed in this book, a wonderfully in-depth one that showcases his growth and remarkable consistency brilliantly. His art is eclectic, ranging from the aforementioned "dark rooms," "Skyscapes," "blue rooms" (viewers in a room with a blue light dominating it, again, challenging perceptions and optics), to a recent "skyscape" that allowed perceived viewings of an eclipse, to his re-construction of a dormant crater (outside of Flagstaff, AZ) to allow unique views of the sky, light, the world. Each piece of art challenges the concept of optical illusion vs. reality- the light offers 3 dimenstional viewing in a 2 dimensional world based on angles of the light, the walls, etc- as well as the common perceptions of light in art.

Again, Turrell should be viewed in a proper exhibit, but this book offers a brilliant overview of his career. The text is in both German and English, but still offers precise pictures, diagrams,and Turrell's philosophies on art, light, and the world. It's a brilliant work by one of today's foremost artists.