James Turrell: Aten Reign at the Guggenheim

“Aten Reign,” James Turrell at the Guggenheim

I know I’m really late here, but I (finally) saw the James Turrell exhibit at the Guggenheim yesterday (after venturing through the Park Avenue Tunnel, going to a used record sale at Lincoln Center, and watching street performers dance in Center Park). The exhibition examines perception, light, color and space, while emphasizing the site specificity. Different colored artificial and natural light dance over the curves and openness of Frank Llyod Wright’s architecture, allowing museum patrons to see the space as they never have before.

Selfies at the Guggenheim

Reminiscent of the Ann Hamilton exhibit at the Armory last winter, the viewer is given the opportunity to lie beneath the installation on mats and experience it on their back. The coveted spots on the circular mat at the bottom of the Guggenheim’s rotunda are surrounded by eager museum-goers looking to rest their heads and engulf themselves in the lights and colors of “Aten Reign” (2013). While “Aten Reign” is viewable from everywhere on ground level of the rotunda, lying down on your back and getting lost in the rings of color is really the best way to experience the show.

Other earlier Turrell works (from the ’60s and ’70s) are also on view and use a LED, projected and Tungsten lights to create light projections on flat walls.

Turrell, 70, is from LA and his works focus on light and space. He has a permanent exhibit built into MoMA’s PS1 entitled “Meeting,” (1986). “Meeting” is a square room with white walls and wooden benches around the perimeter with a rectangular opening cut into the ceiling for sky viewing. Currently he is working on the ongoing project Roden Crater, (1979-) which is a crater near Flagstaff, Arizona that he is currently turning into a naked-eye observatory.

“Aten Reign” runs through September 25, 2013.