James Turrell's Summer Exhibitions and Roden Crater Journey

James Turrell has three major simultaneous exhibitions in summer 2013: a retrospective at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (May 26, 2013 – April 6, 2014), another at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (June 9 – September 22), and a show at Guggenheim Museum, New York (June 21 – September 25) where he reinvents the museum's circular space. In Paris, his work is at Galerie Almine Rech until July 27. His lifelong project, Roden Crater, is a volcanic site in Arizona's Painted Desert that he has been sculpting since 1974. Turrell, born in 1943 in Los Angeles, lives near Flagstaff, Arizona, on the Walking Cain Ranch, a 400-square-kilometer property acquired parcel by parcel to protect the crater's surroundings. A former Quaker and pilot, Turrell draws inspiration from flying and celestial phenomena. The Roden Crater visit begins three hours before sunset and ends three hours after. Inside, a 34-ton black monolith stands in a circular chamber with polished white stone discs; one is illuminated by a long tunnel. The Alpha Tunnel leads to The East Portal, a Skyspace with stone benches. Turrell plans future additions: an amphitheater for 400 spectators, a space to observe the Little Dipper's rotation, a camera obscura in a fumarole, and a pool requiring full immersion. 60% of the work remains, needing $20 million for the second phase. Turrell describes his goal as bringing the sky to earth and placing viewers in the universe.