James Turrell: A Retrospective

BCAM, Level 2 and Resnick Pavilion
May 26, 2013–April 6, 2014

James Turrell: A Retrospective explores nearly fifty years in the career of James Turrell (b. 1943, Los Angeles), a key artist in the Southern California Light and Space movement of the 1960s and 70s. The exhibition includes early geometric light projections, prints and drawings, installations exploring sensory deprivation and seemingly unmodulated fields of colored light, and recent two-dimensional work with holograms. One section is devoted to the Turrell masterwork in process, Roden Crater, a site-specific intervention into the landscape just outside Flagstaff, Arizona, presented through models, plans, photographs, and films.

Advance tickets are highly recommended; book online. The exhibition also includes a separately-ticketed experience, Light Reignfall, from the artist's Perceptual Cell series, with a limited number of tickets available (special conditions apply). Find out more.


James Turrell: A Retrospective is organized by LACMA, in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. Major support is provided by Kayne Griffin Corcoran and the Kayne Foundation. Generous funding is also provided by Shidan and Susanne Taslimi, Mehran and Laila Taslimi, and the Taslimi Foundation and Renvy Graves Pittman. Additional underwriting by Pace Gallery, Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, Robert Tuttle and  Maria Hummer-Tuttle, Gagosian Gallery, and Violet Spitzer-Lucas and the Spitzer Family Foundation, along with  Mark and Lauren Booth, James Corcoran and Tracy Lew, the Charles W. Engelhard Foundation, and Pierre Lagrange and Roubi L’Roubi.
Sponsored by 

Images: James Turrell, Raemar Pink White, 1969, Shallow Space, Collection of Art & Research, Las Vegas, Installation view at Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, CA, 2004, © James Turrell, Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, courtesy Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles; James Turrell, Breathing Light, 2013, LED light into space, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Kayne Griffin Corcoran and the Kayne Foundation, M.2013.1, © James Turrell, Photo © Florian Holzherr.

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In the Press
Perceptual Cell
Afrum (White)
James Turrell
1966
Afrum (White)
James Turrell
1966

Projected light, Dimensions variable, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, partial gift of Marc and Andrea Glimcher in honor of the appointment of Michael Govan as Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director and purchased with funds provided by David Bohnett and Tom Gregory through the 2008 Collectors Committee (M.2008.60) © James Turrell. Photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA.

Roden Crater Model (Large Overall Site)
James Turrell in collaboration with Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray
1985–87
Roden Crater Model (Large Overall Site)
James Turrell in collaboration with Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray
1985–87

Plaster, pigment, and materials taken from the crater, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, Paul Fleming, Suzanne and Ric Kayne, and Pamela and Jarl Mohn through the 2013 Collectors Committee, M.2013.45. © James Turrell, Photo © 2013 Museum Associates/LACMA.

Light Reignfall
James Turrell
2011
Light Reignfall
James Turrell
2011

Gaswork, Courtesy of James Turrell, Pace Gallery, and Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Installation view at Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, 2011
© James Turrell, Photo © Florian Holzherr.

Mendota Stoppages
James Turrell
1969–74
Mendota Stoppages
James Turrell
1969–74

Black and white photograph, 6 1⁄2 x 8 1⁄2 in. (16.5 x 21.6 cm) Karen Comegys-Wortz and Edward Wortz Collection © James Turrell Photo © 2013 Museum Associates/LACMA.

James Turrell: Second Meeting

Filmed in early 2013, this film from Art21's Exclusive series shows James Turrell revisiting his installation Second Meeting (1989) at the home of private collectors. James Turrell's explorations in light and space impact the eye, body, and mind with the force of a spiritual awakening. Informed by his studies in perceptual psychology and optical illusions, Turrell's work allows us to see ourselves seeing.

Producer: Ian Forster & Eve Moros Ortega. Director: David Howe. Camera: Marc Levy. Sound: Neal Doxsee. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: James Turrell, Clifford Einstein & Mandy Einstein. | art21.org | © 2013 Art21, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Radical Reality of James Turrell

May 22, 2013

Opening this Sunday is James Turrell: A Retrospective—a large-scale survey of Turrell’s career filling galleries in both BCAM and the Resnick Pavilion. Michael Govan, LACMA’s Wallis Annenberg Director, serves as co-curator of the exhibition along with contemporary art curator Christine Y. Kim...

Filming Roden Crater

June 9, 2013

The video below, part of James Turrell: A Retrospective, captures some of the experience of the artist’s work-in-progress: the transformation of an extinct volcano, Roden Crater, into a monumental work of art...

Video

Talk
Turrell Trifecta
12:00PM Tuesday, July 9
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