James Turrell Quotes
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I like to work with it so that you feel it physically, so you feel the presence of light inhabiting a space. My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.
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Nowhere in the job description of an artist is the requirement that I must validate your taste.
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I don't know if I believe in art. I certainly believe in light.
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There's truth in light. You can tell what elements a star is composed of and the temperature at which it burns by the light it gives off.
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My desire is to bring astronomical events and objects down into your personal, lived-in space.
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The works of previous artists have come from their own experiences or insights but haven't given the experience itself. They had set themselves up as a sort of interpreter to the layman... Our interest is in a form where you realize that the media are just perception.
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Drake went through my exhibition. I did meet him in Los Angeles, and he was in the spaces that I did do there, and has some images from that.
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This wonderful elixir of light is the thing that actually connects the immaterial with the material - that connects the cosmic to the plain everyday existence that we try to live in.
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Generally, we use light to illuminate other things. I like the thingness, the materiality of light itself. So it feels like it's occupying the space, making a plane, being something that was there, not just passing through. Because light is just passing through. I make these spaces that seem to arrest it for our perception.
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I come from L.A. where there's a sense of show. But that's not a bad word in my mind. We say art 'show,' don't we? 'Show' implies entertainment.
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There was a time when I restored antique planes to support my art habit.
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When you sit down and see someone play at a piano, you don't think, 'Wow - what a fantastic machine.'
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Usually we are illuminating things instead of looking at the light itself. But I like this quality of the light being the revelation.
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The wonderful thing about being an artist in L.A. is that there is no taste. There's anarchy of taste, which seems good to me.
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It's really terrific to see Pittsburgh recognize the Mattress Factory.
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One of the tenets in Quaker meditation is that you 'go inside to greet the light.' I am interested in this light that's inside greeting the light that's outside.
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Light itself is a revelation.
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I don't want you looking at the light fixture; I want you looking at where light goes. But more than that, I'm interested in the effect of light upon you and your perceptions.
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I started out with projected-light works and working indoors, but I'd prepare the walls - by sanding, etcetera - the way you'd prepare a canvas for painting.
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The sky always seems to be out there, away from us. I like to bring it down in close contact with us, so you feel you are in it. We feel we are at the bottom of this ocean of air; we are actually on a planet.
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There's traditionally been a large disconnection in contemporary art between the audience and the artist. Generally, audiences are looking towards what they like, and I can tell you, that's the last thing on an artist's mind.
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I have high expectations of my audience, and in general, I would say they've met that.
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It's possible to gather light that's older than our solar system.
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I want to create an atmosphere that can be consciously plumbed with seeing... like the wordless thought that comes from looking in a fire.