It’s been over a week and I’m still thinking about James Turrell. The feeling of being in that room and seeing infinite space within the bounds that I know exist. The glow of the lights. The smoothness. The not knowing. The ethereal effect his pieces have with light sneaks into my thoughts in the form of questions. I remember standing in that room and wondering if my art could ever make someone feel like this. What materials can I use? What technologies are still mysterious enough to elicit wonder through not knowing how they work? What was most fun was trying to reverse engineer his effects with friends. What direction can I explore deeply enough in? What group of people can I find? Turrell had a group to experiment with. I love that with Turrell’s works I feel like I could sit there for hours – it’s a feeling I actively seek to foster in my web-based pieces, and something I only just now realized I could aim for in real life too.
thoughts to chew on:
- Would highly recommend finding the nearest James Turrell piece and checking it out.
- This feels like confirmation of my suspicion that some of the coolest art experiences are rooted in technical exploration. This branch of experimenting makes me want to delve into physics/optics.
- Also SOUND. Partially because I have moderate hearing loss and wonder if I could convey that experience to someone else.