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James Turrell and his woes had nothing to do with Drake's 'Hotline Bling' video

James Turrell and his woes had nothing to do with Drake's 'Hotline Bling' video

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If you're the kind of culture vulture who loves LACMA just as much as Lil Wayne, you might've seen something familiar in the soft neon glow and color gradients of Drake's video for "Hotline Bling." (And if you've found yourself unable to avert your eyes from his arsenal of dance moves, I can't blame you.) Art-inclined viewers were quick to point out the video's similarity to the work of installation artist James Turrell last night, and it's hard to dispute the resemblance.

Turrell has spent much of his career playing with light, shape, and color through projections that look a lot like those in "Hotline Bling," and Drake is an avowed fan of his work. He visited a Turrell retrospective held within LACMA in January 2014, and he paid lip service to the artist in a Rolling Stone profile later that year. "I fuck with Turrell," said the Canadian megastar. "He was a big influence on the visuals for my last tour."

These connections might have you fantasizing about Drake, Turrell, and video director Director X chumming around on the set of "Hotline Bling" together, and I'm sorry to have to rain on your parade. Turrell released a statement through lawyer Donn Zaretsky this afternoon, and it'll quickly quash your dreams of a collaboration between Turrell and the Boy:

While I am truly flattered to learn that Drake f*cks with me, I nevertheless wish to make clear that neither I nor any of my woes was involved in any way in the making of the "Hotline Bling" video.

For what it's worth, a quick dive into Director X's videography reveals that he's been working with Turrell-esque scenes for over a decade. "I understand why people would say that's Turrell's thing but this is my style best of all," said X in an interview with The Fader. "I'm definitely familiar with the man's work, he's a genius. But if you look back at what I do, this is my style."