foundation annual report 2009–10 - National Gallery of Australia

James Turrell
born United States of America 1943
Within without 2010
lighting installation, concrete and basalt stupa, water,
earth and landscaping
800 x 2800 x 2800 cm
purchased with the support of visitors to the exhibition
Masterpieces from Paris, 2010
Within without 2010, a skyspace created by James Turrell,
is a work of rare beauty. It offers visitors to the National
Gallery of Australia an extraordinary experience of the sky,
light and heightened perceptions. Turrell is a visionary American
artist with an exceptional reputation. His profound knowledge
of art, science and aeronautics, and use of elemental materials,
amaze and inspire his audiences. On an early visit to Canberra,
Turrell was impressed by the Australian skies. Indeed the clarity
of light here, and its similarities to the atmospheric conditions
at his life-long project, the magnificent Roden Crater in Arizona,
was a factor that inspired Turrell to create Within without in
Canberra.
It is his largest and most complex skyspace to date. The
commission began in 2005–06 and the work in the new
Australian Garden announces the Gallery’s ambition to
eventually extend the Sculpture Garden around the building.
Within without amalgamates Eastern, Western and the
local cultural traditions that constitute modern Australia. It
seems fitting then that the skyspace complements our Asian
collections and our new galleries dedicated to the Indigenous
art of this country. There is no doubt that this major work of art,
in so prominent a location, will become a destination in itself.
Photograph: John Gollings
FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2009–10 29