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Thomas Hancock and Gareth Brighton have both spent their formative artistic years in Christchurch where they studied together at Ilam School of Fine Arts, each graduating in 2016 with an MFA. Having lived and worked in close proximity the two have a good understanding of each other?s practices and have exhibited together on a number of occasions.

Gareth Brighton?s new works are primarily abstract oil paintings on recycled fabric. They are orderly compositions, constructed of a thick patchwork of painterly marks. Though these works fall into the category of abstract painting they are literal objects of solid materials that reject illusionistic space and hold titles which invite representational investigation by the viewer.

In Thomas Hancock?s recent works, found objects, photography, and painting are combined to create something simultaneously figurative and abstract. Objects are chosen for their qualities of form, their geometric and linear possibilities. The objects are familiar yet strange, their identity and purpose sit tantalizingly at the edge of your mind …