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| "Afrum-Proto," 1966 (corner projection) Quartz halogen projection; installed at Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. Collection Jeanne and Michael Klein.
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“Afrum-Proto”
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"Afrum-Proto" is the first of several "corner projection" pieces
developed by James Turrell during the 1960s. Made by aiming the
light from a slide projector through a template, the resulting projection
is a floating optical
illusion in the corner of a room. As the viewer moves around
the gallery, he or she will reach an optimal vantage point where
the rectangle of light will resemble a three-dimensional white cube.
The closer one approaches the corner, the less the illusion holds,
until the cube is transformed back into an ordinary projection of
light. With a magician's sleight of hand, Turrell creates the illusion
of a three-dimensional solid out of light. Echoing principles in
theoretical physics and creation myths alike, the work makes connections
between energy, matter, and a human perception of these cosmological
elements. The experience of the work ultimately depends on where
one is standing and the relationship one has to the work.
Turrell leaves the mechanisms of this illusion in plain sight. This
makes the spectacle no less mysterious or believable, as it is the
overwhelming surprise of seeing the cube emerge from the wall that
makes the largest and most lasting impression. Turrell's corner
projections are all the more convincing for the way in which the
work functions despite a knowledge of how the illusion is made.
Turrell first had the idea for "Afrum-Proto" and similar works while
a graduate student at the University of California at Irvine. More
interested in the shape and luminosity of the slide projections
in his art history classes than the particular images of paintings
and sculptures, Turrell's work focused on an aspect of daily experience
that often went unnoticed. Later pieces brought some of the color
of those initial slide shows back into his work, and the artist
has made corner projections in red, blue, and purple. |
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