“Plain Dress 2005,” James Turrell’s installation at 505 Fifth Avenue, differs from the typical lobby design of marble floors and perhaps an eye-catching sculpture or painting. In fact, the lobby of 505 Fifth Avenue is the art. James Turrell, known for his light installations and his work at the Roden Crater in Arizona, was commissioned by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates to create this site-specific piece for their new building in 2005. The collaboration began when one of the architects said the lighting in the half-finished lobby reminded him of a Turrell exhibit. The pink and blue light comes from LEDs which use the white plaster walls as a canvas of sorts. The lights of “Plain Dress 2005” changes based on the time of day, but it is not as extreme of Turrell’s other work. Another of his works, “Perceptual Cells,” allows the viewer to see the inside of their eyes, and one of his installations at the Whitney caused extreme dizziness; some people even fell over.
