Hyphae (II)
1996
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racing forms
by p.c. smith
a gallery tip sheet
Mark Francis
at Mary Boone
Jan. 4-Feb. 22, 1997
The Irish-born, London-based 34-year-old
painter typically begins the paintings here
with a light gray ground, 7 x 6 ft., that
is veiled with soft black horizontal and
vertical brush-wisps. Into this shallow,
pulsing space he clumps large black dots
with the abstract directness of Bauhaus
figure/ground exercises. In fact, the
images are based on photographs of cells
and chromosomes--a Ross Bleckner twist that
faintly suggests biological narratives of
sex and war. Invasion (all works 1996) has
two masses of dots proliferating on either
side of an open channel. In Activate and
Breed the dots clump into bacterial or
chromosonal configurations, and in
Generation they have sperm-like tails.
Feathery brushwork around the dots suggests
the narrow focus of a microscopic view. In
fact, Francis transmutes Abstract
Expressionist scale and technique into a
19th-century, Japonais feeling of delicate
brushwork, subdued monochromatic color and
dispersed, assymetric composition. When, as
in Grid Painting, he adds additional
colors, chrome yellow and brown umber, they
are soft enough to read as optical
afterimages.
The impulse behind these pictures is so
reticent, one suspects they're intended
mainly as well-mannered decor. Within this
self-constraint, though, Francis creates
impressive variation.
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