Pace Gallery, New York
February 2022
February 11–March 19, 2022 The presentation Color Out of Darkness, will feature Reinhardt’s paintings illuminated by a lighting concept conceived by Turrell, whose pioneering investigations of light, color, space, and perception have been greatly influenced by Reinhardt’s practice and legacy, in particular his “red,” “blue,” “white,” and “black” paintings.
The show will examine the ways that both artists explore the decentralization of the object in their practices, and Turrell’s lighting concept for the show will foreground the experiential nature of Reinhardt’s work. Reinhardt, who is widely considered a forefather of Minimalism and Conceptualism, began developing his distinctive language of abstraction in the 1930s. While his early works featured bold amalgams of shapes and forms, the artist went on to create his geometrically minded, monochromatic “red” and “blue” paintings and later his “black” paintings. Works from these series figure in Pace’s exhibition, with Turrell’s lighting concept highlighting the nuances and idiosyncrasies of Reinhardt’s abstractions within his monochromatic paintings. With this exhibition, Turrell presents an homage to Reinhardt as an experiential artist, and his designs of the rooms within the presentation can be considered new works. As a curator, Turrell has cultivated a scenography for this show that beckons viewers into the depths of Reinhardt’s abstractions. Turrell’s experimentations with light create otherworldly, immersive experiences for viewers of Reinhardt’s paintings, forging connections between the two artists across time and space.