James Turrell is a once-in-a-generation artist whose work never ceases to inspire. The MacArthur Foundation genius and National Medal of Arts winner has created explorations of color, light, perception, and space that are on display around the world. (i.e. Manhattan, London, San Francisco, Jerusalem, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Stockholm, Cardiff, Kagawa, etc.)
But his most unsung gem is in Long Island City. That’s right. It’s in Queens!
Meeting is on permanent display in a third floor room at MoMA PS1. Donated by Mark and Lauren Booth, the site-specific installation features a mechanical roof that opens for unobstructed views of the sky. Stand or relax on teak seating there at sunrise or sunset and experience multi-colored interior lighting mixed with static yellow tones.
The atmospheric light is awe-inspiring, but the room is a calm space. The juxtaposition encourages patrons to contemplate their relationships with nature and the rest of the world. Turrell refers to it as “seeing yourself seeing.”
Founder Alanna Heiss commissioned Meeting for MoMA PS1’s opening in 1976, but it came together in 1980, and Turrell continued to modify it through 1986. The first of his U.S. Skyspace series, the piece is the only one on public view in the New York City area.
A California native born in 1943, Turrell likes to utilize light as his primary medium. He’ll puncture a wall in his studio, a museum or even Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo’s mansion in Varese, Italy. His biggest piece is a still-unfinished natural cinder cone crater in Arizona, and his career was seen in a retrospectives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan.
Meeting is one of several site-specific works — dubbed “Artists Interventions” — that enrich the experience at MoMA PS1. They range in scale and material, while some are obvious and others are hidden. A few descriptions follow.
William Kentridge’s Stair Procession features white-on-black drawings on the northwest stairwell.
The Hole at P.S.1, Fifth Solar Chthonic Wall Temple by Alan Saret consists of a hole dug out of a brick wall on the third floor. When the sunlight faces the building’s exterior side, light beams down the hallway.
Richard Artschwager’s ovular BLPS forms were once ubiquitous in subway stations around New York City. Now they hang out in MoMA PS1’s hallways and stairwells.
Poncili Creación’s gnome-like Dwellers are scattered throughout the venue.
Eric Orr installed three vertical Wall Slits in PS1 Courtyard. Influenced by ancient ritualistic and shamanistic practices, they use light, sound, and space to manipulate perceptions.
Ernesto Caivano’s In the Woods is a mural composed of black latex paint and gouache to create a dense visual web of images. Check it out at Stair A on the third floor.
Click here for all of the Artists Interventions.
Located in a former public school building at 22-35 Jackson Ave., MoMA PS1 presents emerging artists in an outdoor gallery, two-story display room with high ceilings, and many creatively utilized nooks and crannies. Yes, it’s affiliated with Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art, and the two venues collaborate on exhibitions, education activities, and special programs.
MoMA PS1 is accessible via the 7, E, G, and M lines to the Court Sq.-23rd St. and 21st St.-Van Alst subway stations.
Admission is $10, but seniors and students can attend for $5, and New York residents don’t have to pay anything at all. The museum is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Operating hours are noon to 6 pm on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Friday and noon to 8 pm on Saturday.
Images: MoMA PS1