JAMES TURRELL: PASSAGES OF LIGHT / 22.NOV.2019 – 29.MAR.2020

https://www.fundacionjumex.org/en

Museo Jumex presents Passages of Light, a survey show of the internationally acclaimed artist James Turrell (USA, b. 1943). Known for his immersive installations that engage viewers with the limits of human perception, Turrell’s practice defies simple classification within the art canon.

Using light as his medium, saturated fields of color take on a physical presence. Through a scientific understanding of light’s affects and a singular artistic vision, Turrell creates wordless meditations on time and space that are as relevant today as they have been throughout human history. Extending beyond the physical spaces of a gallery or museum, the artist creates monumental structures that make the skies and heavenly bodies seem tangible to the viewer.

Passages of Light presents new works from Turrell’s most important series, spanning two floors of Museo Jumex’s galleries.

Book your tickets here to visit the Ganzfeld installation, part of the James Turrell: Passages of Light exhibition.

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My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity—that physical feeling and power that space can give.

James Turrell
Mexico City – November 21, 2019 – From November 22, 2019 to March 29, 2020,
Museo Jumex presents a survey of the internationally acclaimed artist James Turrell (USA, b.1943). The exhibition features new works from Turrell’s most important series, spanning two floors of Museo Jumex’s galleries. Each installation is a carefully controlled environment in which light is formed and experienced. Using light as his medium, saturated fields of color take on a physical presence. Through a scientific understanding of light’s affects and a singular artistic vision, Turrell creates wordless meditations on time and space that are as relevant today as
they have been throughout human history. Extending beyond the physical spaces of a gallery or museum, the artist has created monumental structures that makes the skies and heavenly bodies seem tangible to the viewer.
Each body of work in the exhibition has been juxtaposed by a quotation from diverse sources that offer a poetic understanding of Turrell’s influences. The first floor gallery presents Amesha Spentas one of James Turrell’s Ganzfeld installations that subsume the visitor in a field of color. As light modulates through a sequence of changing colors and effects, space transforms and dissolves around the viewer, the installation is designed to eliminate the viewer’s depth perception and provoke different ways of seeing. On the second floor the exhibition continues with a selection of installations, prints, photographs, models and holograms that survey Turrell’s broad-ranging practice. The exhibition is introduced by the First Light prints that capture the various forms made from light from Turrell’s Projection Pieces. A projection piece installation follows, marking one of the artists’ earliest experiments with using pure light as a medium to
transform space. The Double Shallow Space (Atman) and Wedgework (Spenta Mainyu) installations date from the same period.

The exhibition continues with a selection of photographs and models that document Turrell’s Roden Crater project. Aerial views of the crater portray Turrell’s view of the crater from his perspective as an experienced pilot, an important influence on his understanding of light. The models allow visitors to envisage the point of view of looking out from Roden Crater’s chambers towards the sky. Further works include Turrell’s use of recent technology, including holograms, a natural medium for the artist to explore as light seems to take on a presence in space. The Curved Elliptical Glass(Gathas) installation is among Turrell’s most recent body of works, and its slow transformation of color has been likened by the artist to musical scores.

James Turrell: Passages of Light is organized by Kit Hammonds, Chief Curator, and Adriana Kuri Alamillo, Curatorial Assistant, Museo Jumex.
In order to preserve the intimate, meditative nature of James Turrell’s work, museum capacity will be limited during this exhibition. Please be aware that there may be delays for entry. Photography and video are not permitted within the exhibition.