james turrell(i'm tired today. today i would like to soak in the light)
"Well I was fascinated with light right from the very beginning. I did several things in my room when I was very young. We had these blackout curtains in Pasadena, as a response to the threat of attack in WWII. And I pulled them down and put the constellations along the ecliptic so that during the day I could see the stars. I was interested in light phenomena. I think it's not too different from a deer looking into the headlights-that quality of captivation.
My grandmother used to tell me that as you sat in Quaker silence you were to go inside to greet the light. That expression stuck with me.
One thing about Quakers, and I think many Friends might laugh about this, is that often people wonder what you're supposed to do, when you go in there. And it's kind of hard to say. Telling a child to go inside "to greet the light" is about as much as was ever told to me.
But there is an idea, first of all, of vision fully formed with the eyes closed. Of course the vision we have in a lucid dream often has greater lucidity and clarity than vision with the eyes open. The fact that we have this vision with the eyes closed is very interesting. And the idea that it's possible to actually work in a way, on the outside, to remind one of how we see on the inside, is something that became more interesting to me as an artist."
martin griffithsstumbling upon work like this onthe internet, makes it all worth it. check out his site.
Light is the most defining and transforming sensation.
Light is our desire.
THE JOURNEY TO LIGHT
1982 - 2008
The journey really began in a small region on the West coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales. Almost all work completed between 1982 and 1999 was derived from there, an area of no more than three-quarters of a square mile with medieval architecture standing at its heart. It is a land of ancient settlements and beguiling mystery, where absorbing sensations of nature mingle with powerful resonances of past cultures.
Several phases of painting led to the current light sculpture. With hindsight, it seems that creative exploration was inspired and deepened by drawing upon a ground of narrow latitude.
michelle lee photo.its good to go to the source