INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY
Image: Last Man on Earth 2012 vinyl on canvas
Once the final frontier and the unimaginable stuff of the future, space travel is now a reality. As of mid 2012, human beings were able to witness the grainy landscape of Mars via the robotic rover Curiosity. And the truth – that far-flung planets have the potential to support microbial life – is even more electrifying than if a bug-eyed green martian had hopped past the screen.
It is this strange nexus of scientific hypothesis and human aspiration that provides the enduring playground of science fiction. Artist Adam Norton has long been fascinated with the ephemera of space exploration, as seen in his Mars Gravity Simulator (2011) and Virtual Reality Simulator (2012). In Interplanetary Society, he urges us to consider our here-and-now as if from 500 years hence. What debates now hotly contested will seem so obvious and necessary with the benefit of hindsight?
In a series of large-scale acrylic and vinyl paintings Norton plumbs a treasure trove of kitsch book covers to conflate time and space into vibrant, epigrammatic stand-ins. We Are Not Alone vibrates with the fun of a disco floor while Conquest of Space hovers inevitably in unavoidable block letters in the sky.
The images are comfortable but also alarming, as you can’t help but wonder – what from today will be the kitsch memento of tomorrow? Will it be you or me?
Until Mar 16, Gallery 9, 9 Darley St, Darlinghurst, 9380 9909, gallery9.com.au
