James Turrell: The Light Inside at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

James Turrell: The Light Inside, currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, explores the remarkable career of James Turrell (born 1943). Raised in a Quaker household and coming of age in the radical climate of the 1960s, Turrell has created some of the most beautiful art of our time, treating light as a material presence in perfectly calculated installations. Viewers are invited to investigate the margins of perception, to measure the passage of time, and—in the artist’s words—“to enter the light.”

This exhibition features seven immersive light environments, ranging from Turrell’s first projections of the late 1960s to his most recent Tall Glass series of 2010–13, as well as three print portfolios and site plans relating to Roden Crater. All are from the collection of the MFAH, and most have been created for this exhibition. Also on view is The Light Inside, the Museum’s beloved light tunnel, commissioned by Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson to connect the Caroline Wiess Law Building with the Audrey Jones Beck Building.

James Turrell: The Light Inside is part of a nationwide celebration of Turrell’s work. It was conceived in conjunction with concurrent exhibitions on view this summer at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The appreciation of Turrell’s work in Houston extends from the MFAH to the artist’s two local Skyspaces: One Accord at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House in the Heights, and Twilight Epiphany at Rice University in the Museum District.

James Turrell: The Light Inside, 9 June until 22 September, Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonnet, Houston, Texas 77005. www.mfah.org

Credits:

1. James Turrell, The Light Inside, 1999, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum commission, gift of Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson. © James Turrell
2. James Turrell, Aurora B: Tall Glass, 2010, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of the estate of Isabel B. Wilson in memory of Peter C. Marzio. © James Turrell / Photograph by Thomas DuBrock

You can read the full feature on James Turrell in the August/September issue of Aesthetica out now www.aestheticamagazine.com/shop