News
By LENNIE BENNETT
Times Art Critic
James Turrell is famous throughout the world for his art installations based on light, mostly natural light. One of his renowned Skyspace works debuts today as the newest member of the permanent collection at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
Several major museums have one, but this is the only Skyspace in Florida and only one of two public Skyspaces on the East Coast. It's also the largest Turrell has created. Its $2.9-million cost was mostly paid through private donations.
The art is hard to describe and even harder to reproduce in a photograph. (Which is why you don't see one here.)
Skyspace is an experience. This one occupies a large interior courtyard in the museum's Searing Wing. A canopy has been built over its 35-foot-high walls with a 24-square-foot aperture open to the sky. It's designed to be a contemplative space, said Ringling associate curator of modern and contemporary art Matthew McLendon.
As you look up, he said, "the sky and light are distilled. And you become aware of ambient sounds overhead. I'm always shocked at how much sound becomes a part of the experience."
The ideal times to visit Skyspace are at sunrise and sunset, a bit tricky for the museum whose hours don't generally include either. The Sunset Program begins some time in January, which will keep the museum open later on some days. Details are still being worked out.
Today, though, on the winter solstice, the public can experience it during extended hours from 8 p.m. to midnight. After dark, LED lights bathe the underside of the canopy with subtly changing colors that are juxtaposed against the night sky.
Turrell, whose undergraduate degree was in perceptual psychology, also studied mathematics and astronomy before earning a master's degree in art.
"His whole career has been about perception," McLendon said, "the manipulation of the eye and brain. It's the same idea the Impressionists had when they would paint a bit of yellow and blue together. We see it as green although there isn't any green on the canvas. Skyspace is the same principle in 3-D."
Lennie Bennett can be reached at (727) 893-8293 or lbennett@tampabay.com.
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