Paired with Cooper's 'Round-about' screen prints (2009), the circles play off each other. Their precise geometry has modernist overtones, allowing us to easily place them within Western art history, and yet, the mottled birds-eye view of Cooper's roundabouts directly relates to the kind of mapping of the landscape we find in Aboriginal painting.

In the same way that the red, orange and green panels can be read as a traffic light, they also have a cosmic connection, their luminous flare on a black background reminiscent of a lunar eclipse. Furthermore, both allude to that retinal burn we experience when caught in a spotlight. blinking to regain focus, it is a world of pixelated purples, white lights and black spots. The articulation of the circle becomes diffused.

On another level, this installation can be enjoyed for its playful bounce between chaos and order. The geometry and choice of colours of the prints are extremely controlled but their arrangement on the wall is totally random, activating a kind of shimmer between the elements and markings. Again we are reminded of Aboriginal painting and its use of signs and symbols to imbue spirit in their surfaces.

Clearly, Cooper's artworks are ambiguous. He leaves it up to the viewer to construct a response to his metaphors. Like the road they are shared space.

Charlie Cooper's screen prints were printed at MARNLING PRESS in Chippendale. This exhibition coincided with Cooper's solo Peak Oil Paintings at Annandale Galleries, a new body of shaped canvases that seemingly lift off the wall.

— Gina Fairley, March 2010