Artist Turrell Focuses On Perception Of Light

James Turrell: Works 1967-1992, previews 7 to 9 p.m. tonight (to Jan. 3) at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington. 543-2280. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and until 9 pm. Thursdays.

Ten years ago, Center on Contemporary Art chose James Turrell to do its inaugural exhibit. His spaces filled with colored light were the essence of what COCA was about: bringing in first-rate art no commercial gallery was likely to show because it was uncollectible.

Today, the Henry Gallery brings Turrell back to Seattle for an updated look, with two pieces done before the COCA show, plus two new pieces, and a teasing look ahead at what promises to be the most ambitious and exciting artwork ever undertaken by an American artist: the Roden Crater Project.

In 1974, on a Guggenheim grant, Turrell spent seven months flying over the western U.S. in search of a special piece of land. Turrell loves to fly. "I used to have a business restoring antique airplanes," he explains. "It sustained me until I was able to make a living selling blue sky and colored air."

This time out, he was looking for a place away from pollution and urban light spill that stood at least 500 feet high, rising above a flat plain. The summit had to be concave, forming a roughly circular dish. He wanted to buy it.

He found Roden Crater, the 6,200-foot-high cinder cone of an extinct volcano near Flagstaff. The crater is big enough that he was able to land his plane in it.

He bought the section of land on which the crater sits - 640 acres - in 1977. Since then, he has bought five more surrounding chunks of equal size.

Turrell plans to transform Roden Crater into a natural observatory in the tradition of Stonehenge. From the bottom of the crater, nothing is visible but sky. His designs call for hewing out tunnels, chambers and spaces, aligned to specific astronomical events.

"I see it as a stage set for geologic time," he says. "The music of the spheres played out in light. This is what performs these spaces; the motion of the earth turning." The piece could be completed in less that four years, with full funding: $6 million. An Italian patron is sponsoring detailed construction designs.

Turrell regards shows such as the new one at the Henry Gallery as "chamber music for the symphony of that larger work." Turrell has a degree in perceptual psychology, and he is interested in questions such as "In a lucid dream, where does the light come from? You see things brighter and sharper than when your eyes are open. What happens when seeing from within meets seeing from without?"

To explore that, he has constructed a foam-lined "perceptual cell." Enter and sit on the single chair inside. Be aware of what seems to happen to a spot of color as you watch it.

"The reflexive act of seeing yourself see is sensuous for me," Turrell said.

Three additional light installations - each in a gallery of its own - are more traditional Turrell pieces, each mesmerizing in its own way. Light projected into a white corner creates the illusion of a floating colored cube. Colored light dematerializes an architectural space, and makes it appear limitless. A lush blue skin of light yields to the impression of a colored fog that fills a space.

An illustrated catalog for the show is available at the Henry Gallery bookstore for $24.95.

-- James Turrell will speak on his work at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Room 120 of Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. $6.