Art Curious Contemporary

SpaceInvaders Buddhas – Series

SpaceInvader Buddhas is the only series here meant to be read in order. Across five images, a single circular view, like a lens or porthole rimmed in cobalt, holds steady while something gathers inside it. The first is empty except for a small white light. In the second, a row of pale shapes appears along the upper edge; in the third they round into heads; in the fourth they become crowned shrines bearing flowers, while seated figures assemble in the shadow below. By the fifth, three robed figures stand in gold above the dark, and the light has warmed. The view never changes. What changes is who has arrived.

A circular opening, like a lens or porthole, fills the frame, ringed by a thick rim of electric cobalt blue that glints with green at the upper edge and crumbles into a rough, granular lip at the lower right. Inside, a warm apricot glow covers the upper half, finely textured with faint parallel lines, and darkens through dusky mauve into deep brown shadow below. A small, bright white orb hangs just right of center, with a tiny cyan point beneath it and a fleck of blue near the upper left edge. The interior is empty and still: the first image in the sequence, before any figures appear.

SpaceInvaders Buddhas 1, 2026, museum-quality lightfast ink on aluminum plate, size varies (unprinted)

The same circular opening returns, but its cobalt rim now resolves into curved courses of blue brick along the lower edge, as if looking up through a well or tower. A deep red, velvety drape hangs down the right side of the rim. Inside, a band of warm apricot light arcs across the top, and along it stand four pale silver-gold shapes with rounded tops, evenly spaced like small hooded figures or standing stones. Below them a large dark violet dome fills the lower interior. The bright white orb remains at center, and just beneath it a small fan-shaped form with a point of light at its heart spreads like a pair of wings. The first figures have appeared.

SpaceInvaders Buddhas 2, 2026, museum-quality lightfast ink on aluminum plate, size varies (unprinted)

The circular opening holds steady, its cobalt rim now worn and mottled with paler blue along the lower curve, while the drape at right has darkened to a near-black maroon that seems to melt and drip down the edge. The four forms along the apricot band have rounded into oval discs, like medallions or small moons, their mottled gold and yellow-green surfaces carrying dark markings that begin to hint at faces. Beneath them the lower interior has turned a dusky, speckled grey-brown. The white orb glows a little warmer at center, and below it the winged shape has contracted back into a single point of cyan light. The figures are no longer just shapes; they are starting to become heads.

SpaceInvaders Buddhas 3, 2026, museum-quality lightfast ink on aluminum plate, size varies (unprinted)

Within the cobalt-rimmed circle, the band of apricot light now carries five ornate silver forms, each shaped like a crowned niche or shrine with a pointed finial, and each framing a bright yellow five-petaled flower at its heart. At the far left edge, faint red calligraphic strokes appear against the pale ground. Below, in the dark interior, a row of rounded silhouettes has gathered, soft-edged heads and shoulders like seated figures in shadow. The white orb at center has grown a small peak at its crown, like a candle flame, with the point of cyan light still below it. The forms above have become icons, and the figures below have arrived.

SpaceInvaders Buddhas4, 2026, museum-quality lightfast ink on aluminum plate, size varies (unprinted)

In the final image of the sequence, three tall figures stand along the band of warm apricot light, rendered in fine gold filigree. Each wears a pointed crown, carries a small blue jewel at its center like an eye or a heart, and descends into a long, speckled robe that trails downward like vestments or a slow fall of embers. Faint shafts of light rise between them. The seated silhouettes of the previous image have gone, and the dark interior below lies empty and calm. The white orb at center now glows within a warm orange halo, with the point of cyan light still beneath it, and a thin dark line rises from the lower edge toward it. At right, the rim breaks into a rough, bark-like crust. The figures have become priestly presences, standing watch over the light.

SpaceInvaders Buddhas5, 2026, museum-quality lightfast ink on aluminum plate, size varies (unprinted)

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