# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BcKwPLUAEnu
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16046315-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/29e771f08a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-12-01T17:29:11.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

Artists have a variety of methods to make their mark. Every Friday we will share a photograph of an #ArtistInAction. 〰〰〰〰〰〰〰
James Turrell (b. 1943) is an American artist known for his mind-bending installations that alter our perception of light and space. Born in sunny Southern California, Turrell took an early interest to the study of light and admired painters like Constable, Turner, and the impressionists, who masterfully depicted luminosity. For Turrell, however, light is not just a quality to his work but the art itself. “Rather than making something about light,” he explains, “I wanted something that was light, and that’s the biggest difference.” Highly knowledgeable of the science behind human perception, Turrell precisely constructs his color-soaked installations in order to offer viewers a distinct experience of light. Fundamentally, Turrell’s work is about seeing. “It’s about perception.” he asserts. “For me, it’s using light as a material to influence or affect the medium of perception.” Ingeniously using light as a physical substance, instead of as an element in a larger work, Turrell is able transform spaces into arenas of opaque hues. In addition to his LED color installations, Turrell is also famous for his “Skyspaces” - rooms with a clear-cut hole in the ceiling that opens directly to the sky. Named after Meetings of Worship, which were a part of Turrell’s Quaker upbringing, these spaces, or “Meetings” as Turrell refers to them, provide an intimate view of the sky by bringing it down to the plane of the ceiling. The up-close encounter of daylight is a moving experience that transforms the room into a place of worship fit for meditation, reflection, and prayer. The only “Skyspace” in the Northeast, and the second “Meeting” Turrell ever created, is an ongoing installation at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. 〰〰〰
#JamesTurrell
Photo: Nathaniel Brooks, 2017

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## Tags

jamesturrell, artistinaction

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