and per se and: Part X - Agnes Martin & James Hugonin

and per se and  is a rolling sequence of exhibitions where one work is paired with another for two weekly periods, across a stretch of 12 months. In this phase of the sequence an exquisite work on paper by Agnes Martin will be joined by a new painting by James Hugonin. Over the past 30 years James Hugonin has become known for his unusually deliberate and determined way of making paintings: completing on average just one painting a year and always following a structure of small marks of colour across an underlying grid, each mark shifting slightly from its neighbour and building to a rhythmic whole. These are deeply subtle paintings with an understated clarity that owes something to the light-filled pointillism of Seurat as well as to the balance and poise of Agnes Martin’s work. Each painting begins with a notebook, plotting separate sequences that will play out over the surface of the painting in the coming months, almost like a musical score. The analogy to music is apposite, as Agnes Martin commented of her own approach: “It's not about facts, it's about feelings. It's about remembering feelings and happiness. A definition of art is that it makes concrete our most subtle emotions. I think the highest form of art is music. It's the most abstract of all art expression” The paintings by Hugonin and Martin share many qualities: they operate with a kind of interior musicality and balance their apparent precision and control with a fragility that suggests a very human touch. From 26 July in and per se and: part XI, the work of James Hugonin will be joined by a painting by Giorgio Morandi.