Margaret Ellen Turner: Space Invaders | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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Margaret Ellen Turner: Space Invaders

As with most human beings, Turner continually seeks answers to the big questions: what are we, and more especially, why are we?

Scientists have put together a graphic picture which indicates that at its most basic, existence is granular: a busy, interacting sea of mass and energy with no hard substance to stand on let alone make into something meaningful for this lived life. While playing with scientific notions of the fluid, substance-less state of reality, Turner sees things emerge from the process of her paintings. In the repetitive, balloon-like shapes there is a reference to ‘Space Invaders’, the video arcade game of the 1980’s.

Drawing on pop culture references and making pictures of light-dark-light, cool, warm and warmer textures, a fathomless space is created, that not only recedes from the viewer but also invades their personal space.

IMAGE
Margaret TURNER Space Invaders #568 2013. Acrylic on canvas, 140 x 100cm. Courtesy of the artist.