pt.2 is happy to current Honing In, a brand new exhibition of oil work by Martha Shaw. In Honing In, Martha Shaw turns her consideration to a small group of topics—a pair of bushes, a yellow home, a beachside constructing, and a recurring calla lily. Painted on canvas at intimate scale, these types seem repeatedly, subtly shifting in gentle, texture, and composition. Every repetition turns into a method of deepening focus, of trying to find what lingers beneath the floor of the on a regular basis.
The exhibition opens with a collection of calla lily work. These works set up the quiet rhythm of the present: the identical flower rendered a number of instances, every with its personal sensibility. Set towards softly shaded grey fields, deep black, or wooden sample, the lilies oscillate between readability and subtlety. In some, the bloom stands alone and iconic; in others, it merges with its environment, blurring the road between object and floor. Shaw makes use of these variations to discover how consideration—repeated, targeted—can rework the odd.
All through the exhibition, works are hung in pairs and clustered groupings—sibling work that replicate and reply to at least one one other. These quiet relationships underscore the artist’s curiosity in rhythm, variation, and the act of sustained commentary. Nothing is overly composed or embellished. Every aspect is positioned with care, permitting temper to emerge via restraint. Shaw’s repetition just isn’t mechanical, however considerate—a method of honing in till one thing acquainted turns into newly seen.
The exhibition concludes with a set of work depicting a beachside constructing—an invented construction with a purple roof, usually flanked by bushes. This place doesn’t exist, although it feels acquainted, like the doorway to a seaside half-remembered. Throughout a number of canvases, Shaw returns to this way with slight variations. These works proceed her exploration of repetition, however with a delicate shift in tone. Right here, she just isn’t observing the actual however conjuring the almost-real—portray towards one thing that doesn’t fairly exist, however feels prefer it might. In these scenes, Shaw’s quiet persistence turns into a method of giving kind to one thing simply past attain.
