
Topographical map of Rodin Crater
2002
This topographical map of Roden Crater, produced in 2002 for the Lannan Foundation, offers collectors an intimate window into one of the most ambitious land art undertakings of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. James Turrell has spent decades transforming an extinct volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert of Arizona into a naked-eye observatory, calibrating its tunnels, chambers, and apertures to channel skylight and celestial events with extraordinary precision. The map itself is not merely documentary but functions as a conceptual artifact, translating an immense geological and perceptual project into the compressed language of contour lines and spatial notation. At 76.2 by 104.1 centimetres, it carries a quiet authority that belies its modest format. Turrell's practice is rooted in the phenomenology of light and space, and this work on paper participates in that tradition by making visible the underlying architecture of a site designed to dissolve the boundary between the terrestrial and the cosmic. The topographical rendering captures the crater's form with a cartographic coolness that stands in productive tension with the sensory immersion Turrell pursues in the physical space itself. Signed by the artist, the work carries the authentication of a hand deeply invested in every dimension of the Roden Crater project. For collectors drawn to conceptual rigour and to art that thinks seriously about perception, scale, and time, this piece represents a rare opportunity to own a document inseparable from one of the defining artistic visions of our era.
- Medium
- Print on paper
- Sheet
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Gallery · Samuel Freeman
For Sale — $10000
More by James Turrell
Collectors of James Turrell
Also spotted by
Start the Discussion
Request access to join the discussion