For her second solo exhibition, Mary Ramsden has created new abstract compositions that embed the tension between action and redaction, noise and quiet, attraction and repulsion.

Gestural marks ground the paintings, using a complex colour palette to activate the surface of the canvas and which is contrasted with bold monochrome strokes, which conceal in its resolve the noise beneath. Ramsden’s works in some way mirror the drag ‘n’ drop of our digital era: forms overlay one another, like windows overlapping on a laptop screen, or layers in an image mid-edit.

Ramsden’s monochromatic canvases carry an active surface caused by the direction of her strong brushstrokes, or by the use of abrasive sandpaper which emphasises the materiality of the painting. Her works may reference the screen, but one-dimensional they are not.

Her works are painterly, each is an object that has been heavily handled – whether this be board, canvas and or aluminium – drips of paint accumulate and spill over the frontal plane. The sides of each canvas therefore reflect colour onto the white gallery walls, to suggest a hum of artificial light surrounding the work.

Mary Ramsden: Swipe, until 28 February, Pilar Corrias, 54 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8EF. For more information visit www.pilarcorrias.com

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Credits
1. Mary Ramsden, Big Hand, (2015). Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias.