I wanted to deal with light directly rather than with paint.
James TurrellRead
I feel that I want to use light as this wonderful and magic elixir that we drink as Vitamin D through the skin - and I mean, we are literally light-eaters - to then affect the way that we see.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the transformative power of light in influencing our perception and experience of reality.
In this quote, James Turrell expresses the idea that light is not just a physical phenomenon but also a vital element that shapes our perception of the world. He compares light to 'Vitamin D' that nourishes us and suggests that our interaction with light can profoundly enhance our awareness and understanding, likening it to a magical substance that influences our experiences and perceptions.
Themes
LightPerceptionExperienceArtTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
In a gallery discussion about the impact of light in art installations.
More from James Turrell
All quotes →It is only when light is reduced that the pupil opens and feeling goes out of the eyes like touch.
James TurrellRead
In many cases, if we knew what it would take, we might have thought twice about it, so it's often wonderful that we don't have hindsight.
James TurrellRead
There are different stages when you fly. The first stage is the dollhouse effect, seeing everything on Earth like it's a model. Suddenly, all of your concerns seem very small.
James TurrellRead
Space has a way of looking. It seems like it has a presence of vision. When you come into it, it is there, it’s been waiting for you.
James TurrellRead
I'm known as a light artist. But rather than be someone who depicted light, or painted light in some way, I wanted to have the work be light.
James TurrellRead
Similar quotes
This idea that a book can either be about character and feeling, or about politics and idea, is just a false binary. Ideas are an expression of the feelings and the intense emotions we hold about the world.
Richard PowersRead
I've done movies I'm very proud of, but there's always a sense of: 'Come see this shiny new car!' The question I hate the most is: 'Why should people see it?'
Oscar IsaacRead
It's funny with fiction - once you cut something, it hasn't happened anymore.
George SaundersRead
Literary studies were no more than a series of autopsies performed by heartless technicians. Worse than autopsies: biopsies. Vivisection. Even movies, which I love more than anything, more than life itself, they even do it with movies these days.
Stephen FryRead
I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.
Johann Sebastian BachRead
What I hate about kitchen-sink dramas is [this idea] that the set is real, therefore you're going to be seeing truth. You have to earn truth. Truth can't be a part of the fact that people appear to talk that way and live in that room. You're looking for the poetry in something, and I don't mean poetry in the fancy sense. Naturalism believes by just replicating a thing you give the truth, rather than earning the truth.
John GuareRead