Two pioneering American artists’ light works go on show steps from each other in Hong Kong
The exhibitions of James Turrell (at Gagosian) and Dan Flavin (David Zwirner) offer an intriguing dialogue on light as a physical material
For James Turrell’s solo exhibition “Lifting the Veil”, the Hong Kong branch of Gagosian has been transformed into a series of darkened viewing rooms, sectioned off with heavy curtains to allow the American artist’s light works to shine.
The air of mystery is rather fitting for the master manipulator. Best known for his architectural installations and his decades-long magnum opus inside a volcano crater, Turrell uses natural and computer-controlled LED lights – often in monumental structures – to alter viewers’ perceptions of colours and space.
For a commercial gallery show that serves as an introduction to Turrell’s grand projects, the curators have selected three of his more modest “Glassworks”. Each work in the series is installed inside its own room, where viewers are bathed in the constantly changing light emitting from a geometric opening in the wall.
Turrell started the series in 2001 with the idea of creating a wall in front of an existing wall that plays with the idea of what a painting is when the material used is light.
A full cycle is 60-90 minutes long and the glacial change in colours requires a bit of time to notice. The continuous, imperceptible shift can overcome the human eye’s ability to adapt to a static colour within seconds, with the result of turning the flat surface into an infinite void. After a while, one does not notice the aperture in the wall as much as the temperature and combination of the colours, which draw out a range of sensations.