Getting Lost in Artist James Turrell’s Transcendental Light

This week, Gagosian unveiled the largest James Turrell exhibition in Europe in 25 years. At its airport hangar location outside of Paris, Le Bourget, the exhibition, titled “At One,” features more than 35 artworks by Turrell, who uses light as his primary artistic material, and perception itself as his medium. 

The gallery’s ground floor features two new large installations, offering immersive experiences which play with loopholes in our perception. Either Or (2024), from the series Wedgework (1969-), begins in total blackout sensory deprivation, as viewers feel their way into the room in complete darkness. With our sense of vision reduced, the first view of the artwork arrives: piercing, bright and intense. The work seems to expand beyond the physical limitations of the room, appearing to extend beyond the back wall. As it moves through its sequences of colors, initial fear from the darkness and abrupt light eases away and comfort takes its place, until total darkness again fills the room, providing a meditative moment to digest the experience. 

“I want to make something that people direct their attention toward. It’s not that different from when I was a child in the crib, fascinated by the light I saw above me,” Turrell explains in a press release. “We usually use light to illuminate things. I am interested in the ‘thingness’ of light itself. Light does not so much reveal, as it is the revelation itself.”

Revelations occur throughout the exhibition, with each artwork bending the limits of viewers’ sight. The second of the new large installations, All Clear (2024), from the series Ganzfeld (1976-), takes viewers into a room created to induce the Ganzfeld Effect – using uniform color and brightness to create a starvation of visual stimulation. This begins a perceptual deprivation, creating a feeling of being in a whiteout in a snowstorm, lacking any surroundings to situate oneself in time and space. 

In the gallery space upstairs, six new in-wall Glassworks pieces are displayed, the ever-changing hues illuminating the hallways. Although shown in open spaces, there’s a unique intimacy in slowing down to view each work, as each transition into a new color marks the passage of time, flooding the faces of viewers as they sit, transfixed before them.

The rest of the exhibition features archival materials related to Turrell’s life’s work – Roden Crater, located in Northern Arizona. Blueprints give viewers insight into the structure of the crater, showing illustrated circles from its center to the outer rim – a flow which resembles the movement of colors within Turrell’s Glassworks. 

Impossible to describe in words or capture in photos or video, Turrell’s artwork must be seen in person to understand the full force of its incredible impact. Luckily, “At One” is on show until summer 2025, giving visitors plenty of time to experience Turrell’s transcendental light.