James Turrell

The Return

On View
Jun 14 – Sep 27, 2025
Seoul

Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of five recent installations by James Turrell—including a new, never-before-seen, site-specific Wedgework made specifically for this presentation—at its Seoul gallery. Spanning all three floors of the gallery, The Return, opening June 14 and running through September 27, will also feature a selection of photographs and works on paper that shed light on the artist’s process for his installations and the construction of his massive Roden Crater project.

The exhibition is accessible by advance reservation only. To schedule your visit, please complete our (opens in a new window) Naver Booking form.

Marking Turrell’s first solo exhibition in Seoul since 2008, this show is organized as part of Pace’s 65th anniversary year celebration, during which the gallery is mounting exhibitions around the world of work by major artists with whom it has maintained decades-long relationships.

Born in Los Angeles in 1943, Turrell is a key member of the California Light and Space movement. He has dedicated his practice to what he has deemed “perceptual art,” working with the materiality of light and space. Influenced by the notion of pure feeling in pictorial art, Turrell’s earliest work focused on the dialectic between constructing light and painting with light, building on the sensorial experience of space, color, and perception. Since his Projection Pieces from the 1960s, his work with light and perception has expanded in various series, including his Skyspaces, which he began creating in 1974, and his Ganzfelds, which he initiated in 1976.

Today, the artist is known worldwide for his immersive installations that, he says, require “seeing yourself seeing.” His work can be found in major museum collections around the globe, including the Museum SAN in Wonju, Korea, which is home to five of his installations; the Bonte Museum on Jeju Island in South Korea; the Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima Island in Japan; the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra; the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum in New York; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. With his monumental, ongoing Roden Crater project near Flagstaff, Arizona, Turrell is forging a large-scale artwork and naked-eye observatory within a dormant volcanic cinder cone in the landscape of the Painted Desert of Northern Arizona.

Arne Glimcher, Pace’s Founder and Chairman, first met Turrell some 60 years ago, and the gallery has represented him since 2002. The artist’s upcoming presentation in Seoul—his first ever solo show at Pace’s space in the Korean capital—is an ode to the longevity of his relationship with Glimcher and Pace. The Return will include a new, never-before-exhibited Wedgework installation—in which planes of projected light intersect within a darkened room, lending light a “thingness” through which the room seems to expand beyond its physical limits—made by Turrell this year. Also featured are two large, curved glass installations, a circular glass installation, and a diamond-shaped glass installation. In these pieces from the Glassworks series, shifting planes of light give the illusion of infinite depth. Rarely exhibited together, these Glassworks of different sizes and dimensions will be installed throughout the Seoul gallery, offering visitors a special opportunity to experience the breadth of the artist’s recent work.

The works on paper complementing these installations, which the artist has been producing over the course of his career, speak to the importance of printmaking in Turrell’s practice. At Pace in Seoul, he will show his new series of Wedgework prints, which explore the chromatic variations and formal possibilities of the Wedgework installations. Works related to the artist’s Roden Crater project will also figure prominently in the exhibition, alongside aquatints and woodcuts that depict qualities of light in Turrell’s 2014 installation Aten Reign at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Entering a James Turrell installation is like stepping into a dream that forgot it had walls, where neon colors flood the air and horizons dissolve.

Park Han-sol, (opens in a new window) The Korea Times

Films

James Turrell's Art of Opulence and Light

On the occasion of James Turrell's first solo exhibition in Seoul since 2008, Pace Founder and Chairman Arne Glimcher shares his memories of Turrell's early work and reflects on the evolution of the artist's practice over the years.

Marazion, Circular Glass by James Turrell

Longing, Wide Elliptical Curved Glass by James Turrell

Imaginings, Wide Rectangular Curved Glass by James Turrell

North Space Dark Chamber by James Turrell

My First Roden Crater Photo Mosaic by James Turrell

First Known Aerial Photo of Roden Crater by James Turrell

Roden Crater: Complete Site Plan by James Turrell

2013 Site Plan Blueprint by James Turrell

A Girl's Best Friend, Medium Diamond Glass by James Turrell

The history of art is full of artists who depicted light—and those depictions have meant a great deal to us. But I wanted to use light itself, not just show it.

James Turrell, (opens in a new window) The Chosun Daily

About the Artist

James Turrell, associated with the Light and Space Movement initiated in the 1960s, has dedicated his practice to what he has deemed perceptual art, investigating the immaterial qualities of light. Influenced by the notion of pure feeling in pictorial art, Turrell’s earliest work focused on the dialectic between constructing light and painting with it, building on the sensorial experience of space, color, and perception. Since his earliest Projection Pieces (1966–69), his exploration has expanded through various series, including Skyspaces (1974–), Ganzfelds (1976–), and perhaps most notably, his Roden Crater Project (1977–), a large-scale work in a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of northern Arizona. Turrell’s practice has also materialized in small-scale works, including architectural models, holograms, and works on paper.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

James Turrell
The Return
Jun 14 – Sep 27, 2025

HOW TO ATTEND

This exhibition is accessible by advance reservation only.

(opens in a new window) Schedule Your Visit
Reservation Guide

GALLERY

267 Itaewon-ro
Yongsan-gu
Seoul

PRESS

Press Release

CONNECT

(opens in a new window) @pacegallery

Journal

View All

James Turrell

The Return

The exhibition is accessible by advance reservation only. To schedule your visit, please complete our (opens in a new window) Naver Booking form.

Films

James Turrell's Art of Opulence and Light

Checklist

About the Artist

EXHIBITION DETAILS

HOW TO ATTEND

GALLERY

PRESS

CONNECT

Journal

James Turrell's Art of Opulence and Light

Sam Gilliam and Kenneth Noland: Celebrating Color

Nigel Cooke: Paintings 2019-2025

Moving through Nature and Meaning with Nigel Cooke