Twelve slate pieces travel across the walls and floor of the gallery space, defying or obeying gravity as they go. The slate works are complemented by a set of drawings, a group of wooden cubes, and two slim ash laths.

In keeping with my attraction to symmetrical and simple geometric forms, all of the works are based on the circle or the square. I find solace in these orderly shapes, even as their heavy material presence is sombre and unsettling.

The concept for this exhibition arose partly by chance and partly by design. A sheaf of paper and a black pencil lay close at hand, and my plan to draw a circle and a square on the same page brought Malevich to mind. He stayed for the duration. The seriousness, even the severity of the Russian artist’s work is counterbalanced with humour and a touch of the absurd, especially in his famous installation of paintings in 1915.

The dark slate sculptures here appear lightened by the movement implied in the way they are installed. It is this combination of gravity and levity that I seek to embody with the works and their unfolding in the space of this exhibition.        MT

Martha Townsend Exhibition on Vimeo