MARK FRANCIS (b.1962)
Linear Axis
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Signed, inscribed and dated 2009 on verso
Kerlin Gallery label on verso

 

Mark Francis creates elegant abstract paintings that...

MARK FRANCIS (b.1962)
Linear Axis
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Signed, inscribed and dated 2009 on verso
Kerlin Gallery label on verso

 

Mark Francis creates elegant abstract paintings that at first glance could be seen as fine examples of classical, formal abstraction. And on one level they are. That is, he makes grid-based compositions, usually with a very sparse, precise palette, and often with black linear scaffolding that obliquely recalls Mondrian. But there is another important dimension to his work. It relates to the nature and complexity of the world beyond the limits of conventional vision. The forms, shapes and patterns he employs derive from reality as revealed by electron microscopes at one extreme and radio telescopes at another, from the subatomic to the cosmic.

 

Born in Newtownards in Northern Ireland, he went to study at St Martins and then Chelsea School of Art in London. While he has been loosely associated with the YBAs, and featured in Sensation, the Royal Academys celebrated and controversial 1997 exhibition of the Saatchi collection, Francis has followed a highly individual path of consistent and rigorous exploration that has gained him international recognition. Around the end of the 1980s, he was painting close-up, analytical studies of plant structures. In the early 1990s, he began to reference microscopic views of organic forms and processes at a molecular level, creating striking compositions evoking the clusters and patterns of basic cellular structures.

 

The idea of the grid gradually gained importance. The grid is an underlying matrix against which the world unfolds: matter, energy and life flare into being and fade away. All of this is charged with a sense of mystery. The grid is not a guarantee of a reassuring order: it is unstable, shifting, multiple, reflecting the continual play of order and chaos. Just as it is in this work from 2009, in which a network of overlapping lattices suggests a process of delicate calibration. The viewer is cast in the role of an observer trying to make sense of multiple data streams, constantly readjusting to a changing, compelling reality.

 

Aidan Dunne, October 2019

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