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PHOTOGRAPHS
Turrell, James
U.S. (1943 - )
Roden Crater (survey frame 5743)
1983
Chromogenic color (Type R) print
36 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. (92.7 x 92.7 cm) exposed image size; 38 3/4 x 38 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (98.4 x 98.4 x 4.5 cm) frame size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company
FA 97.174

Since the mid-1960s James Turrell has used light as a medium, with perception as the subject of his art. The sculptural controls he employs to give form and texture to these interests have always referred to the natural environment and are nowhere more wide-ranging than in his Roden Crater Project. The project was begun in 1979, two years after Turrell bought the 1,100-acre site and began plans to reshape the crater and to incorporate four primary chambers with numerous light and space installations within it. Each one of the series of tunnels and openings throughout the Roden Crater has a particular objective. At any time, and on any day, each viewpoint will put the visitor into a direct relationship with the visible universe--one that can be obtained in no other way. And when viewers stand inside the bowl-shaped peak of this instinct volcanic cinder cone, they perceive a reverse bowl of sky and light above them. Much of Turrell's research is an outgrowth of his experiences as a pilot, and this photograph was taken through a specially constructed bomb-bay door in the floor of one of his airplanes. -- Label copy for After Art: Rethinking 150 Years of Photography, December 4, 1994 to March 26,1995.

This frame from James Turrell’s Roden Crater project offers a perspective opposite what most viewers encounter from within the environmental site. Turrell has been carving the volcanic site near Flagstaff, Arizona since 1977 so that visitors can experience art and nature as a cosmological unity. In order to create this experience, the environment is manipulated by the artist. This interaction between earth and artist marks a shift from depiction to creation of a physical location. -- Label copy for Shifting Ground: Transformed Views of the American Landscape, February 10 to August 20, 2000.

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