Luminous

The artistic research of Marea Atkinson is based on the exploration of the unfathomable, which touches the infinite regions. Luminous explores the human relationship between Earth and the Cosmos and our sense of belonging in the Universe. In 2007 while undertaking a residency in Tuscany, Marea visited the Villa Garzoni garden in Collodi which marked the beginning of a path, an almost fatal encounter, and an experience with light. As a source of inspiration, in fact, the labyrinth in that beautiful garden, a magical place in that it references the time when gardens were used as sites for astronomical observation. The magnificence of nature, combined with inspiring creative force, acts as a spark, a creative short circuit and it is from here that, “Luminous” develops and takes shape. Her work is also informed by the quality of light in Australia from the sky, ocean and land and her relationship to place and nature.

Acting on intangible phenomena such as iridescence, incandescence, luminescence, light, energy and time, the artist offers the viewer a new experience of the observed reality. She reveals a refined interpretation of the nature of the organic, reads the most hidden aspects and secrets, and makes them resonate with visually ethereal compositions that feed on sweet and delicate geometries. Projecting shapes of celestial labyrinths seeking the equivalent symbols of earth and sky, following the traces of a cosmic web that sees all beings connected with the Universe.

The maze is not only an architectural form, but it is what best represents the human soul, which is the search for self and salvation. It is a place where it is easy to enter and difficult to exit, but it is especially arduous to stay. And what more appropriate metaphor for life itself? The maze is also the home of contradictions, errors, but also an emblem of the divine that is within us, as a symbol of order and chaos. And in our hearts where everyone has within the self, where this place is an ocean of wisdom, the total of all embrace. Marea’s maze is dynamic, it changes shape, changes its axis in harmony with the rest of creation, is a driving force of energy, it is the cosmic fire.

The projection of the labyrinth on the telescope is an operation of great sensitivity. It is a message that the artist wants to give humanity, or awaken the desire to connect to what really belongs to us, from the essence of the sun and the stars, the cosmos to what our cells are made. A feeling that all is one. Starting from a small etching, Marea can reach dimensions beyond space and time. Here is a message for those who resonate with the notion of Nature as Echo of becoming a dynamic where a thin wire, like that of Ariadne’s Thread is used as a guide to the exit of the maze, and weaves the multiple language that drives up life. And it’s a language made of impalpable Lightness and results visually in a vibrant gush of colours and shapes where chaos and order, are part of a single indivisible destiny that rules the harmony of nature, and the laws of all living beings.

The expressive radar of Marea Atkinson leads her to probe the strength of the material, but with the courage to raise her eyes to heaven. A task that encompasses all the elements of water, fire, air and earth to open her eyes and see beyond the birth of things and their separation.

Nature is the source of true beauty, and it is from this source that she enrolled her quest for purity and charm, a journey through the infinite, in a strange dimension, where the extreme limit reached always sets a new point of observation. Thus pushing her gaze to the intangible, to perceive the absolute flying high, where the intertwined lives and feels all the vital breath. A synthesis between space and light where time is perceived through the immaterial continuity of the energy flow. And ‘the great adventure of art: the ability to see beyond the narrow limits of our gaze, beyond the known.

MAREA ATKINSON
Marea Atkinson is an Artist-Researcher and former Studio Head of Printmaking at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia in Adelaide. Her main research area has focused on the relationship between art and astronomy and the correlation between the terrestrial and celestial, presenting her research at numerous international conferences. In 2013, she presented an installation The City of Stars project at the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium in New York (INSAP V111), reconfiguring the relationship between the loss of starlight above cities. In 2007/12 she was invited to the UNESCO International Starlight Initiative Conferences in Spain and New Zealand to address the cultural, scientific and environmental issues associated with the preservation of starlight. Marea is inspired by her trips to Italy, in The Labyrinth Series, 2012-14, explores the relationship between the garden, light and astronomy referencing the garden at Villa Garzoni, Tuscany. This series was selected for ILLUMINATION a video projection on the Lovell Radio Telescope in the UK. In 2015 she classified over 14,000 galaxies in Galazy Explorer, an online citizen science project conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Commission ABC Science and the International Centre for Radio Astromony Research in Western Australia, this experience gave her insight into the life cycle of galaxies between 4 to 17 billion light years away. In 2016, she began a series of works initially inspired by Newton’s theory of luminescense light, combined with hidden photographs which has developed into the Identity and Ancestral Lands Project based in Adelaide. Educated at Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA, she has received science/art awards from the University of Manchester, UK, the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Canadian Association of Physics. Marea’s practice encompasses the printed image, installation and mixed media exhibiting in Europe, Australia, North America and Asia. Her work is held in numerous collections including the Brooklyn Museum USA, Kornhaus Museum Switzerland, National Gallery of Australia and Detroit Institute of Art, USA. She is represented by the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, USA.