TILBURG.- Color Squared consists of light projections and graphic work by James Turrell (Los Angeles, 1943) in combination with thirty historic quilts from a German private collection. Austere compositions of basic geometric forms are a striking factor in both segments. On view previously at the Neues Museum in Nuremberg, the exhibition reveals such parallels and raises the question as to whether the affinity runs deeper than these visual similarities.

In 1992 De Pont opened its doors following a major renovation of a former wool-spinning mill. A number of characteristic elements remain as reminders of the building’s previous function. Among them is the series of small rooms along one side of the large main space. These were once storerooms in which the wool was kept. In these small galleries, still referred to as the ‘wool storage spaces’, Amish quilts dating from 1890-1930 are now on display. Despite the fitting context, it is not usual for De Pont to be showing textile works in which tradition, rather than innovation, plays a primary role. These are moreover objects that were not intended to function as art, on a wall, but were made to be used as blankets.

With quilts we often think of colorful patchwork blankets, made of countless pieces of fabric in various motifs. In those of the Amish, however, there is a striking austerity of robust, geometric shapes in no more than three or four colors. The pattern is rigidly symmetrical and composed from the center around a tilted square, a row of narrow vertical strips or a framed rectangle. These motifs are employed time and again. Yet each quilt is different due to the diverse patterns with which the top, underside and filling are stitched together and due to the use of colors, which vary from bright red, rich green, nocturnal blue, deep purple to brown and beige hues.

The Amish are known for their simple way of life, secluded from the world. Quilts have been one of the few artistic expressions of their culture defined by agricultural life and religion. In many quilts the key motif is the diamond shape, which can be found on the cover of the Ausbund, the hymnbook of the Amish. Frequently many of the patterns used can also be traced back to day-to-day farm life: the furrows in plowed land, the contours of the fields, the contrast of light and shade or the wooden construction of a barn. At the same time these repetitive geometric patterns have a surprisingly ‘modern’ appearance and bring to mind minimal art and post-painterly abstraction, movements in which American artists gave their own direction to abstract art. Such associations have certainly contributed to the fact that interest in Amish quilts has risen considerably since the 1960s and 70s.

The combination of Amish quilts with the art of James Turrell gives rise, in turn, to further points of view and associations. For a frequent visitor to De Pont, this American artist is no stranger. Since the very start he, along with Richard Serra, has been a focus in De Pont’s collection. In the museum he is permanently represented with Wedgework III, a work from 1969 for which Turrell produced a new installation at De Pont in 1992. The room-sized light installation was shown at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1976, during his first museum presentation in Europe. Also being shown within the context of Color Squared are several other light works which made their debut at that time. Unlike Wedgework III, in which surfaces of light and shade penetrate each other, Raethro Green (1968), Sloan Red (1968) and Afrum II Pink (1970) each involve a compact, clearly defined geometric form in a single color. In that respect they resemble the quilts. A number of these early works have been produced by Turrell in differently colored variants. That, too, is reminiscent of the many variations of color in the quilts’ identical motifs. Instead of using wool or cotton, Turrell employs the most immaterial medium that exists: light. While the sources of light remain hidden from view, the projections take shape in the darkened spaces as sculptural, almost tangible forms – pyramid, cube or beam – of green, bright pink or white light. In these works the light has a quality which is very different from what we normally perceive. Rather than making things visible, the light itself becomes visible and can be experienced.

In the exhibition these light sculptures are combined with graphic work. Appearing again in the series of prints titled Still Light (1990-1991) are the basic geometric forms found in the light projections. Thanks to a masterly use of aquatint, a technique which allows one to create tonal surfaces rather than lines, the forms manifest themselves here too as if they are volumes of light hovering in space, leaning against the wall or resting on the floor. In Suite from Aten Reign (2014) which has recently been acquired by the museum, Turrell has again risen to the challenge of evoking the sensation of light on a two-dimensional surface, this time in colored woodcuts with relief printing. The series came about in response to Turrell’s 2013 light installation realized in the circular space of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In three iconic images, it shows the continual change of the light’s color.