Häusler Contemporary

James Turrell «Works 1984 – 2023»

Exhibition: Until March 1, 2024

Häusler Contemporary is pleased to open the new season with a solo exhibition by James Turrell. The show documents Turrell's many years of groundbreaking artistic research on light and allows us to experience it firsthand in this exclusive presentation of the work type «Tall Glass».

"My works are not about light, they are light," sums up James Turrell (born 1943 in Los Angeles, lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona). The artist makes spaces glow, using natural and artificial light in which he immerses the viewer. Turrell began his experiments with light and space at the age of 23. Since then, he has used light in its many forms to explore the boundaries of perception. Light, an omnipresent yet intangible matter, becomes almost physically palpable in the spatial situations of the now 80-year-old. Thus, Turrell's interest also lies "In the perception of light, which one can almost feel. More a feeling than an intellectual idea." Light that appropriates space reifies itself in an expansive way: this is James Turrell's medium.

This solo exhibition is the 11th Häusler Contemporary has hosted for the artist. It presents an overview of Turrell's groundbreaking artistic research and simultaneously documents the longstanding and appreciative partnership between the light artist and the gallery.

Similar to the opening of the Zurich gallery space in 2007, when the «Tall Glass» premiered in Europe, a new example of these large-format works with rear controlled light- emitting diodes found its way to Switzerland this year.

For over three decades, the couple Wolfgang and Christa Häusler has been promoting awareness of Turrell's extraordinary artistic vision internationally by organizing exhibitions and mediating projects in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Uruguay and even Mexico.

With the upcoming exhibition in Zurich, the gallery is redefining its profile to dedicate itself in the future primarily to the œuvre of James Turrell and the realization of further projects. This transition will be initiated with this show of works by the very artist who designed and inaugurated the gallery space 16 years ago. What will come? More light! By and on James Turrell.

Häusler Contemporary Zürich defines itself - even more concentrated - as a mediator of James Turrell's artistic concepts, a hub for their realization, and as a point of contact for institutions, collectors, and supporters of his art. Three recent realizations can be singled out as examples to illustrate the breadth of this future focus: a full-field installation in Freising, Bavaria, a Skylight in Lower Saxony, and a Skyspace in Zurich.

The Freising Diocesan Museum is one of the largest museums of religious history. Since its reopening (October 2022), it has encompassed a full-field installation - a homogeneously illuminated surface filling the entire field of vision. The space dissolves into grainy, diffuse light. James Turrell's title choice, «A CHAPEL FOR LUKE and his scribe Lucius the Cyrene», alludes to the precious icon of Mary in the visual axis of the Ganzfeld entrance.

Turrell's Skylight brings "light into the darkness of the soul," says Dr. Matthias Wilkening, CEO of the Wahrendorff Clinic in Lower Saxony, outlining the experience of art combined with the therapeutic effect of light, color, and space. Via a movable dome this interplay is brought to life as soon as the roof of the dining room opens to the sky (February 2023).

The «My Sky» Skyspace, which will open next fall in Zurich, also specifically addresses the needs of the local Children's Hospital. The walk-in room in an elliptical cylinder form is large enough for a hospital bed. The roof is open and shows the sky; closed, it becomes a luminous ellipse. The movable ceiling closes in case of severe weather or helicopter approaches. The hospital is known for research as well as compassionate care. The Skyspace - a gift from the artist to the clinic - is intended to provide soulful support for its patients.

James Turrell «Works 1984 – 2023» | Installation view Häusler Contemporary Zürich, 2023 | © James Turrell | photo: Peter Baracchi

James Turrell Single Works

James Turrell, «Tall Glass Series: DEEP WATERS», 2023 Membrane, computer-controlled LED, aluminium, corian Aperture 210.4 x 122.2 cm, frame 300 x 223.5 x 49 cm Sold
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James Turrell, Suite from «Aten Reign», 2014 Aquatint etching on Hahnemühle Copperplate | Ed. 30, AP 6/6 | sheet 88.3 x 55.9 cm | frame 114 x 81 x 4 cm Verso signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, Suite from «Aten Reign», 2014 Woodcut with relief printing on Kizuk-shi-paper | Ed. 9/30 | sheet 67.3 x 47.6 cm | frame 83.5 x 65 x 4 cm Verso signed and numbered Sold
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James Turrell, Suite from «Aten Reign», 2014 Woodcut with relief printing on Kizuk-shi-paper | Ed. 15/15 | sheet 67.3 x 47.6 cm | frame 83.5 x 65 x 4 cm Verso signed and numbered Sold
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James Turrell, Suite from «Aten Reign», 2014 Aquatint etching on Hahnemühle Copperplate | Ed. 30, AP 4/6 | three-part, each sheet 88.3 x 55.9 cm, each frame 114 x 81 cm Verso signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «My First Roden Crater Photo Mosaic T1 Camera, KC1 Lens», 2009 Black and White Carbon Print | Ed. 6/30 | image 34 x 82 cm | frame 65.8 x 110 x 4.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Sold
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James Turrell, «Grand Falls Next to Roden Crater», 2009 Black and White Carbon Print | Ed. 6/30 | image 60 x 60.5 cm | frame 104 x 91 x 4.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Deep Sky», 1984 Aquatint etching on Rives BFK paper | Ed. 38/45 | seven-part, each sheet 53.3 x 68.6 cm, each frame 57 x 72 x 4 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Roden Crater Site Plan», 2020 Inkjet Blueprint | Ed. 100 | sheet 112 x 137 cm | frame 113.5 x 139 x 4 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Blue Sky over Roden Crater», 2009 Color Carbon Print | Ed. 30 | image 61 x 76.2 cm | frame 88 x 105 x 4.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Sunset at Roden Crater», 2009 Color Carbon Print | Ed. 30 | image 61 x 76.2 cm | frame 88 x 105 x 4.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «North Moon Space 2», 2009 Bronze, plaster, wooden plinth | Ed. 2/12 | two-part, each sculpture 57 x 28.5 x 46 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Sun and Moon Space», 2006 Bronze, plaster, wooden plinth | Ed. 2/12 | two-part, each sculpture 23.50 x 43 x 21.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «East Portal», 2008 Bronze, plaster, wooden plinth | Ed. 2/12 | two-part, each sculpture 70 x 26 x 38 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Crater's Eye», 2006 Bronze, plaster, wooden plinth | Ed. 7/12 | two-part, each sculpture 13.5 x 52 x 26.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «South Space», 2008 Bronze, plaster, wooden plinth | Ed. 2/12 | two-part, each sculpture 12 x 21 x 44.5 cm Recto signed and numbered Available
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James Turrell, «Hologram Series, Blue Outtie, XVIII D June, 2006», 2006 Glass, Hologram | Unique piece | 60 x 42.8 x 2.8 cm Verso signed Sold
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James Turrell, «Hologram Series, Blue Innie, XIX K February, 2007», 2007 Glass, Hologram | Unique piece | 59 x 41.9 x 2.5 cm Verso signed Available
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«What is important to me is to create an experience of wordless thought, to make the quality and sensation of light itself something really quite tactile ... My works are about light in the sense that light is present and there; the work is amde of light. It is not about light or a record of it, but is light. Light is not so much something that reveals, as the relevation itself.» James Turrell

Portrait James Turrell in front of the Roden Crater | © James Turrell | photo: Florian Holzherr

James Turrell «Works 1984 – 2023» | Installation view Häusler Contemporary Zürich, 2023 | © James Turrell | photo: Peter Baracchi

The gallery space on Stampfenbachstrasse will present a wide variety of objects from Turrell's many years of artistic engagement with the material light: the subtly shaded «Deep Sky» aquatint series, for example - rare prints from 1984 that address Turrell's «opus magnum», the gigantic land art project Roden Crater. In them, Turrell abstracts the light fields and shadows cast by the volcanic crater or presents the Arizona night sky, under whose sea of stars he has been expanding his celestial observatory since 1977. The astronomically calculated sky openings of the crater let the light of individual stars fall into the volcano's interior, where artificial light responsively-subtly dims the incoming rays. James Turrell describes how he unites nature and art to create a total work of art as: "It is an artistic intervention, but in harmony with nature." Editions of models of the crater out of bronze and plaster produced by Häusler Contemporary Zurich are in the upcoming exhibition: These «Roden Crater Bronzes» illustrate individual chambers Turrell drilled into the volcano on a small scale and give a sense of the actual crater spaces.

James Turrell «Blue Sky over Roden Crater», 2009 | Ed. 11/30 | © James Turrell | photo: Florian Holzherr

James Turrell «Sunset at Roden Crater», 2009 | Ed. 30 | © James Turrell | photo: Florian Holzherr

James Turrell «Works 1984 – 2023» | Installation view Häusler Contemporary Zürich, 2023 | © James Turrell | photo: Peter Baracchi

The inventor of holography in 1947 was Dennis Gábor, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The actual aim of his research was to improve the electron microscope. James Turrell had already experimented with holography in the mid-1980s, but he was not satisfied with the results until the beginning of the 21st century. 1

A hologram is the photographic recording of light waves on a carrier (glass or metal) with a transparent gelatine emulsion. An image with a parallax is created in the emulsion. In other words, the image appears to have spatial depth when viewed from any angle. Unlike traditional holograms, which represent objects, Turrell's holograms are made of the light itself.

1 Excerpt from James Turrell, The Substance of Light, ed. Frieder Burda Foundation, Baden Baden, 2018, p. 46

James Turrell «Works 1984 – 2023» | Installation view Häusler Contemporary Zürich, 2023 | © James Turrell | photo: Peter Baracchi

James Turrell and Wolfgang Häusler in the Museo Jumex, Mexico City (MX), 2019 | photo: Florian Holzherr

James Turrell (1943 born in Los Angeles, CA, US lives and works in Flagstaf, Arizona, US)

Exhibitions (Selection)
2023 «Works 1984 – 2023», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH *
2022 «Aftershock», Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, DK *
2021 James Turrell: Into the Light, MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, US *
2020 «The Circular Glass», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH *
2019 «James Turrell: Passages of Light«, Museo Jumex, Ciudad de México, MX *
2018 «The Substance of Light», Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, DE *
«The Elliptical Glass», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH *
«Ganzfeld ‘Aural’», Jüdisches Museum, Berlin, DE *
2017 «James Turrell», MASS MoCA – Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, US *
«Immersive Light», The Long Museum, Shanghai, CN *
2015 «LightScape: James Turrell at Houghton» Houghton Hall Norfolk, GB *
2014 «James Turrell: Light Spaces», The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, IL *
2013 «James Turrell», The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, US *
«James Turrell: The Light Inside», MFAH – The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, US *
«James Turrell. A Retrospective», LACMA – Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, US *
2012 «James Turrell: Agua De Luz», Cenote Santa Maria, Yucatan, MX *
2010 «The Wolfsburg Project», Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, DE *
2009 «The Roden Crater», Häusler Contemporary München, DE *

James Turrell
«A step into the future»

Häusler Contemporary and I, Wolfgang Häusler have collaborated with James Turrell for more than 30 years of trustful cooperation as a gallery and realizing projects. Our expertise has grown steadily - especially in recent years, we have supported ambitious commissions.

You are welcome to learn more here.

James Turrell Single Works

James Turrell
«A step into the future»

James Turrell's Roden Crater | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | 2020

James Turrell | Guggenheim Museum New York | 2013

James Turrell Single Works

James Turrell«A step into the future»

James Turrell's Roden Crater | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | 2020

James Turrell | Guggenheim Museum New York | 2013

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James Turrell
«A step into the future»