FERGUS MARTIN has regularly put his faith in the power of series and, true to form, his latest exhibition includes two sets of almost identical pictures, while the remaining paintings repeat the same simple motif in various sizes.
"Almost" is, however, crucial here, as Martin seems to play out the impossibility of identicality in the painted medium. Each piece remains individual, even if only when the crisp edges and planes of solid brown and white are viewed in the very tightest of close ups. There is variation then but these untitled abstractions are nevertheless works of extravagant control and quietness.
In the past the painter has explored various aspects of phantom perspective, enlisting partially obscured rectangles to give an unexpected and fleeting impression of space. Now Martin has gone some way to exorcising even this demure element of representation from his paintings. His surfaces, too, have become much tenser, slicker and more uniform.
While he has never been a reckless painter, he now seems even less fascinated with the luxurious possibilities of his medium. The modest impasto which occasionally gave his minimalist paintings a boisterous appearance has been entirely eliminated.
Restraint is paramount here. Not even the unruly, smell of paint is permitted to interfere with the stark mechanics of these acrylic images. But, having taken so much control, slowed his paintings down almost to a halt, hushed the space, there is a niggling sensation that we are still waiting to hear something being said.
