James Turrell is not simply an artist; he is an orchestrator of perception, a sculptor of sight, a conjurer of light. For over half a century, he has meticulously shaped how we experience color, space, and the ephemeral material of illumination itself. His works do not just reside in the realm of art—they reside within us, altering our perception, unsettling our senses, and immersing us in a world where light ceases to be a passive element and instead becomes a living entity.

The Alchemy of Light and Space

Turrell’s early explorations into light as a medium began in the mid-1960s when he abandoned the constraints of canvas and pigment to manipulate the very essence of vision. His Projection Pieces (1966–69) transformed empty rooms into fields of luminous geometry, using high-intensity projectors to carve ephemeral shapes out of thin air. Unlike traditional painting, these works did not reflect light—they were light, pure and unfiltered.

His fascination with perception deepened through the Art and Technology program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1968–69), where he collaborated with artist Robert Irwin and psychologist Dr. Edward Wortz to investigate the Ganzfeld effect—an optical phenomenon in which undifferentiated fields of light cause a loss of depth perception. This study would later inspire his mesmerizing Ganzfeld installations, vast rooms saturated in color so intense that the boundaries of space dissolve into a luminous abyss.

The Celestial Vault: Roden Crater and Beyond

Perhaps no work encapsulates Turrell’s vision more than his Roden Crater Project, an audacious transformation of a 400,000-year-old extinct volcano into a celestial observatory. Conceived in 1977 and still in progress, Roden Crater is not merely an artwork—it is a portal to the cosmos, a site where the interplay of light and time is rendered tangible. Inspired by ancient observatories and the principles of naked-eye astronomy, the crater’s chambers frame celestial events with a precision that rivals modern scientific instruments. Here, the heavens are no longer distant; they press upon the viewer with an intimacy that is at once humbling and transcendental.

Skyspaces: Framing the Infinite

Beyond Roden Crater, Turrell’s Skyspaces offer a more accessible, yet equally profound, encounter with the infinite. These enclosed chambers, featuring an aperture open to the sky, transform the shifting hues of dawn and dusk into compositions of sublime simplicity. Through precise architectural manipulation, Turrell allows us to see the sky as we have never seen it before—suspended, framed, and imbued with an almost supernatural depth.

The Enduring Impact of Turrell’s Vision

Turrell’s work extends beyond monumental installations to holograms, architectural models, and works on paper, each offering a distilled essence of his grander explorations. From the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, his installations have reshaped institutions into immersive environments where light dictates form, movement, and meaning.
Turrell, a man who seems to have one foot in this world and the other in a realm of pure perception, has a unique affinity for the desert.

I first visited the Wadi AlFann site in 2020, I was surprised that the sandstone formations looked very similar to those in Arizona. I was very familiar with that kind of landscape and strangely felt at home.

– he said.

That connection shows in his plans. The AlUla light, described by Turrell as “crisp and clear,” will serve as both material and muse for his work. Each of the four Skyspaces will act as a different lens on the sky, turning the desert’s vast celestial dome into a canvas for contemplation.

Desert Light and Cosmic Vision

For those not quite ready to book a ticket to AlUla, the accompanying exhibition at the AlUla Arts Festival offers a primer on Turrell’s world. It spans decades of his career, from Alta (1968), an early “cross corner” projection that turns a room’s corner into a glowing pyramid of pink-violet light, to Jubilee (2021), a piece where colors shift so imperceptibly you wonder if you’re imagining it—or if time itself is slowing down.

There are also works from his Magnatron series, which evoke his childhood memories of flickering TV lights, and his Hologram series, where luminous geometric forms hover like ghostly UFOs. Together, these works remind us that Turrell isn’t just an artist of light; he’s an architect of wonder.

The Landscape of Art and History

Wadi AlFann itself is a place of mythic proportions—25 square miles of sandstone mountains, oasis valleys, and ancient Nabatean ruins. Turrell’s commission is just one of the site’s planned monumental works, which also include projects by Agnes Denes, Michael Heizer, and Manal AlDowayan. It’s art on a geologic scale, designed to resonate with the region’s cultural and natural heritage.
This is James Turrell at his most ambitious, fusing the earthly and the infinite.

For decades, James Turrell has been considering the experience of light in the context of human perception. His revolutionary use of light in art is an unforgettable experience.

– Michael Govan, director of LACMA and curator of the exhibition, put it best.

Unforgettable? That’s an understatement. This is the kind of art that makes you question the nature of reality—and maybe, just maybe, your place in the universe. So pack your bags (and maybe a wide-brimmed hat), because when Wadi AlFann opens, it’ll be the hottest ticket in the art world—literally and figuratively.

 

What makes Turrell’s work so arresting is not just its technical mastery, but its profound emotional resonance. His art does not demand to be understood—it demands to be felt. In a world oversaturated with images, Turrell invites us to slow down, to see rather than merely look, to experience light as a physical force that shapes our reality.

James Turrell is not a painter of light. He is its architect, its engineer, its poet. And in the glow of his creations, we find ourselves seeing the world anew.