Mary Ramsden

Mary Ramsden's practice is unapologetically painterly. Strategically refusing referential readings, she makes painted objects whose compositional unity belies the complexity of their making. In Ramsden's work even the most subtle adjustment is generative. Each shift in palette, variation in scale, or nuance of mark effects an incremental development within a broader scheme of experimentation.

On the occasion of her first solo exhibition in London, Ramsden has created a series of works simply presented in interrelated groupings. Implicit in this body of work is a tension between the conflicting actions of 'doing' and 'undoing.' The exhibition oscillates between quieter, meditative works created predominately through the reversal or canceling of previous marks, and bolder pieces in which vividly hued asymmetrical forms actively dominate the surface. This antagonistic give and take extends to the method of their making. Working flat against the studio floor, from a position of authority and control, Ramsden negotiates the pictorial plane as a zone of impact and reaction, working with resistance until the point at which the dynamic conflicts of making are calmly resolved.

A recurring theme in Ramsden's work is a preoccupation with the edge: a concern that is realized formally and pursued methodologically. What is at stake in these works, sometimes ambiguously titled otherwise left unnamed, is a pushing to the limits. Using the canvas as a testing ground they question how far might the mark go.