James Turrell's Light and Space Legacy: Roden Crater, Skyspaces, and Gagosian Hong Kong Show
For over fifty years, James Turrell has been using light as his primary form of art, drawing inspiration from the Light and Space movement that started in Southern California in the 1960s. His creations play with light to shift how we view buildings. One of his early works, Afrum I (White) from 1967, tricks the eye into seeing solid forms. The Guggenheim relates this to Turrell's concept of 'seeing yourself seeing.' His Skyspaces focus on the sky, changing how we perceive depth and color. Since 1977, he’s been working on Roden Crater, transforming it into an observatory. The Gagosian's upcoming Hong Kong exhibition, Lifting the Veil, will feature three pieces: Resolute (2025), Patmos (2024), and Of One Mind (2024). In 2013, his Aten Reign installation at the Guggenheim explored layered light, encouraging deeper reflection on space and perception.
Key facts
- James Turrell has explored light as a medium for more than five decades, associated with the Light and Space movement that emerged in Southern California in the 1960s.
- Afrum I (White) (1967) uses projected light to create the appearance of a solid geometric form in a room corner.
- The Guggenheim has described Turrell's perceptual focus through his phrase 'seeing yourself seeing.'
- Skyspaces are architectural chambers with ceiling openings that frame the sky, using natural and artificial light to alter perception of depth and color.
- Roden Crater, an extinct volcanic cinder cone in northern Arizona's Painted Desert, has been under development since 1977 as a large-scale artwork and naked-eye observatory.
- Gagosian's 2026 exhibition Lifting the Veil in Hong Kong presented Resolute (2025), Patmos (2024), and Of One Mind (2024) in custom chambers.
- Turrell's 2013 Guggenheim project Aten Reign transformed the museum's rotunda with layers of shifting natural and artificial light.
- An editorial note states that 'Perception & Light Architectures' is an editorial feature theme, not a specific exhibition title, and Turrell's current and recent presentations vary by venue and date.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- Guggenheim
- Gagosian
- New York Art Life
Locations
- Southern California
- United States
- Hong Kong
- China
- Arizona
- Painted Desert
- Santa Monica
- California
- Northern Arizona