Dear Talkinggrid Friends,<\/p>\n
Thank you\u00a0LACMA<\/a>!\u00a0 The James Turrell<\/a>\u00a0(b. May, 6th 1943) exhibition is a singular experience. \u00a0It is eye opening, to the most extreme degree, to engage in a visual\u00a0dialogue with silent and pure color. \u00a0LIGHT, which re-frames and re-invigorates the interest in perception, is here the subject. \u00a0Thereby, altering the expectation of “meaning,\u201d \u00a0to arrive as a gift from the outside. \u00a0Instead, the gift is within, in the dazzling ability to perceive, to deduce, to share in Turrell\u2019s focus on light as a truth to be embraced, cherished in a darkened chamber, for as long one can bare its enduring brilliance.<\/p>\n The invitation to reflect on seeing, and on its effect on knowing, is extended to the audience of the art inclined \u00a0 to admission into circle(s) of enlightenment, described and delineated by the artist\u2019s scientific study and methodical exploration of light\u2019s value. \u00a0One must dart and dive into darkness, blackened rooms which beckon the viewer into sacred\u2013\u2013\u2013contemplative\u2013\u2013\u2013corners of neon, \u201cEmergency Exits,\u201d unreal Portals to raw Potential, and tangible understanding(s). \u00a0Holograms gleam and blink inviting us to reach into two-dimensional space and pull out a jade triangle, or a square piece of blue opiate glass or the ellipse of the moon, a\u2014shimmering\u2014circle, cut deep in the projected phenomenon of fabricated and condescend time. \u00a0One must think of Kazimir\u00a0Malevich<\/a>\u00a0(23 February 1879\u201415 May 1935), the great pioneer of abstract art that broke the barrier into the world of Objective Art, replacing the Russian icon with the glow of pure form. \u00a0Wandering from glowing pink room to dark wine sea of burnished light installed and projected via discrete sources and enticing one to walk into walls, blind\u2026walls which become infinite halls, winding down the bunny-hole of masterful aesthetic manipulation.<\/p>\n California, home to the great film industry, and all things flashy and intoxicating, in their projected glamour is fertile ground for art, which takes light, seriously. \u00a0Making it the STAR, rather than a tool of production. \u00a0Turrell\u2019s slicing and dicing of building(s) to create architecture in which viewing is the ONLY purpose, totally shifts the scale of typical visual art experience, which was traditionally, until Modernism, was limited to “the framed window,” of the painted surfaces (Yet\u2026 come to think of it, the red-wall mural paintings of Pompeii were\u2026 unframed, precedents\u2026 to the spectacle of the lighted\u00a0Zimmer<\/em>, living room feel, of Turrell\u2019s LACMA installations remind one of other key moments in art history. \u00a0The Impressionists, for example, showed off, a corner of their discoveries of light\u2019s properties, and of color\u2019s possibilities, when they incorporated tube paint into an outdoor light focused\u00a0plein air\u00a0<\/em>technique of painting which used points, tiny chunks, dots, and\/or strokes, of industrially produced, for the first time in history (!), color as a means of creating shifting, living, vibrant painted surfaces depicting slices of live in early 20th century France.<\/p>\n The interest in light is palpable in all successful works of visual art. \u00a0The understanding of color, a function of light, is essential in most visual art practice. \u00a0This Turrell exhibit provides a means of relating anew to the art of the Renaissance and its particular interest in light. \u00a0The works of\u00a0Carravagio<\/a>\u00a0and his followers, for example, dealt with the darkness abounding, shadowy figures of vagrant types he collected on streets, and cast in the role of saints and sinners in his highly emotional works. \u00a0Masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, (July 15, 1606-October 4th 1669, whose famous\u00a0Chiaroscuro<\/em><\/a>, was the signature understanding of light as a substance, precious, and essential in the construction of worldly value with dirt, crushed stones, and pigment. \u00a0Similarly,\u00a0Giovani Bellini,<\/a>\u00a0(c.1430 – 26 November 1516) also painted the features of light, in his painting of\u00a0St. Francis, in (The Frick collection<\/a>), soaking in the almighty sunlight, Bellini deftly recorded the brilliance of man\u2019s expanding architectural prowess, thereby making a powerful record of light\u2019s potential to speak volumes and thus influence everything from mood and radical changes perspective or epiphany.<\/p>\n