James Turrell

This Gagosian Gallery catalog of James Turrell's recent exhibition with the London gallery features installations, light works, sculptures, and prints by the artist. For more than forty-five years, Turrell has explored the myriad possibilities of using light as a medium of perception. His formally simple works draw attention to the limits of seeing, while seeking to expand the wordless thought that they provoke. Throughout these permutations, the light that is normally used to illuminate other objects is assigned form and structure, making it the subject of the revelation. He continues to use light as his primary subject and material, with its inherent allusions to painting and sculpture. Scholar Miwon Kwon has contributed an insightful essay to the publication, which features a biography and exhibition history.

James Turrell’s work is represented in numerous public collections throughout the world. A major retrospective will open at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2012, traveling to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among other venues. Miwon Kwon is trained in architecture, holds a MA in photography, and has extensive curatorial experience from her tenure at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, in the 1990s. She joined the faculty at UCLA to teach contemporary art history in 1998. Her research and writings extend to contemporary art, architecture, public art, and urban studies.