As one of the most significant living artists of our time, James Turrell transforms the most fundamental elements of human existence—light and space—into his artistic material, elevating perception itself to the medium of his work. Early on, the prominent representative of the Light and Space movement also recognized printmaking as a powerful means of exploring these phenomena of perception.

Through the layered and complex processes of printmaking, the American artist succeeds in making light appear within a two-dimensional space, translating its immaterial qualities into a tangible and experiential form.

This Viewing Room presents a selection of James Turrell’s works on paper, spanning several decades of his artistic practice and reflecting iconic series such as the early «Projection Pieces», the historic «Still Light Series», and the suite of «Aten Reign».

Furthermore, Häusler Contemporary is pleased to present, exclusively, the artist’s most recent works on paper from the series «The Wedgeworks» (2025), as well as three new works that relate to the significant «Roden Crater Project» (2025). The works were personally selected in August 2025 during a visit by Wolfgang Häusler to the artist’s studio in Flagstaff, Arizona, together with James Turrell himself.

«I first met James Turrell at the beginning of the 1990s during an opera production in Paris. He had created the stage design for the opera "To be Sung", in which the singers performed in shadowless light, an experience that left a powerful impression on me. The first collaboration came about in 1997 in preparation for his exhibition for the opening of the Kunsthaus Bregenz, designed by Peter Zumthor. At that time, I gained a deeper insignt into Turrell's working method; it was a fascinating experience.» WOLFGANG HÄUSLER

For more than three decades, a close and trusting collaboration has existed between gallery founder Wolfgang Häusler and the American artist James Turrell. Through decades of experience with projects realized worldwide—such as Skyspaces and Ganzfeld installations—as well as through advising international collectors, Häusler Contemporary has developed a comprehensive expertise in Turrell’s work, which we are pleased to share.

In August 2025, Wolfgang Häusler once again traveled to the United States to personally select, on site and together with the artist, the latest print works «The Wedgeworks» (2025) and «Roden Crater Project» (2025) for the exhibition «James Turrell. Wedgeworks – A Premiere Presentation of Works on Paper».

Further information about the exhibition can be found here.

In 2013, on the occasion of James Turrell’s 70th birthday, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York presented Aten Reign, a large-scale light installation that completely transformed the museum’s rotunda. For this project, Turrell made use of the Guggenheim’s distinctive architecture and precisely calibrated light, color, and perspective, allowing visitors to experience the rotunda as a space of altered perception. The transitions of light shifted subtly throughout the day and incorporated both the natural brightness of the space and its architectural conditions, thereby making the space itself an integral part of the artwork.

Following the installation, small-format works on paper were created that translate the color atmospheres and atmospheric qualities of Aten Reign. The woodcut edition Suite from Aten Reign (2014) enables a focused and intimate engagement with Turrell’s concepts. These works are currently available at Häusler Contemporary.

«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

Since the 1970s, James Turrell has been working intensively on his magnum opus, the Roden Crater Project. The dormant volcano is located in northeastern Arizona and is part of the Colorado Plateau. With a diameter of approximately 1.5 kilometers and a depth of around 150 meters, the crater offers impressive geological and geographical features. The transformation of the volcano into a monumental artwork and a kind of celestial observatory is considered one of the most significant achievements in contemporary art. The ongoing realization of Roden Crater includes the construction of a network of underground rooms and passages within the crater. These sensitive spaces, known as "Skyspaces," respond to different qualities of light and allow viewers to experience the universe as a new, expanded space.

Further information about Roden Crater can be found here.

The «Projection Pieces» (1966) mark a crucial early body of work in James Turrell’s career and form the foundation for his lifelong engagement with light as an independent artistic medium. In these works, Turrell uses projected light to create seemingly tangible forms in space that oscillate between surface and volume. The projections give rise to light objects that are perceived by the viewer not as immaterial phenomena, but as tangible objects. In this way, perception itself becomes the central theme: space, depth, and physicality are defined not by material substances, but solely by light and the conditions of seeing.

These early investigations by the artist are continued in four aquatint etchings «Squat», «Juke», «Carn» and «Alta» (1990) and translated onto paper. The small-format prints offer an intimate engagement and were published by the influential art journal Parkett.

The eight-part suite «Still Light» (1989–90) refers to Turrell’s early works with halogen projectors from 1966. In these initial works, Turrell began shaping space through precisely defined light projections—volumes of light that exist independently of material form. The aquatint etchings of the «Still Light» series translate this early exploration of immaterial form into two-dimensional space and, in contrast to the artist’s «First Light» works, investigate the atmospheric effect of light within a space. Created in Zürich in close collaboration with the renowned copperplate printer Peter Kneubühler, they mark a pivotal moment in Turrell’s adaptation of perceptible light phenomena into the language of printmaking.

The framed works are available individually or as an 8-part series.
This is the printer’s proof from the estate of the Zurich copperplate printer Peter Kneubühler.

James Turrell’s seven-part portfolio «Deep Sky» (1984) marks the artist’s entry into printmaking. At the suggestion of the publisher Peter Blum, James Turrell worked in this medium for the first time and found in the Zürich copperplate printer Peter Kneubühler (1944–1999) an experienced partner for the technical execution. Between 1984 and 1991, Turrell regularly traveled to Switzerland to print together with Kneubühler.

For the work «Deep Sky», the artist chose the intaglio process of aquatint, which allows for a nuanced modulation of light and dark values without the use of linear drawing. The subtly shaded and rare «Deep Sky» series addresses the Roden Crater project. In it, Turrell abstracts the light fields and shadows of the volcanic crater or presents the night sky of Arizona: through astronomically calculated celestial openings, the light of individual stars falls into the crater, where artificial light is responsively and subtly dimmed. «It is an artistic intervention, but in harmony with nature,» James Turrell describes the process, in which he unites nature and art into a Gesamtkunstwerk.

Further information on the exhibition at the time can be found here.

James Turrell (1943 born in Los Angeles, CA, US, lives and works in Flagstaff, AZ, US)

Exhibitions (Selection) 

2025 «Wedgeworks - A Premiere Presentation of Works on Paper», Häusler Contemporary, Zürich, CH
«Reflections on Light», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
2024 «Small Elliptical Glass First Cause», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH *
«Licht im Papier. Die Druckgraphik von James Turrell», Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, CH 
2023 «Works 1984 – 2023», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH *
2022 «Aftershock», Copenhagen Contemporary, Kopenhagen, 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 *

Please find more here.

LACMA | James Turrell: You Who Look | Art + Film
Vimeo Video from 2017, Duration 08:09 minutes