Carol Robertson and Trevor Sutton, Heaven Earth and Human Beings at The Grey Gallery, November 2024 –  We asked in the preview if reductive geometric abstract paintings do it for you? I guess it does all depend on moods but then doesn’t everything? My mood is mostly messy, clean lines are for others to paint, do like a clean line though,  “The title of this exhibition takes its meaning from ancient wisdom, believing Heaven = the Circle, Earth = the Square and Human Beings = the Triangle. ( Korean Cheonbu concept of the Dangun era)”. We’re over in that no man’s land between Hackney’s very busy Mare Street and the relative tranquillity of London Fields, in a rarely used space (Hey, I’m at galleries more than most people, we’ve been here in Hackney longer than most now, I wasn’t really aware of this space), a small 80s flavoured industrial unit that’s usually hidden by a badly grafittied shutter.     

“London artists Carol Robertson and Trevor Sutton have lived and worked side by side in Hackney for 40 years, producing reductive geometric abstract paintings, prints and works on paper. Both use the circle square and triangle and both artists absorb a take on life re-ordered by careful geometry and associative colour: their work is never entirely disconnected from the real world. Robertson works with a variety of geometric formations but particularly circles, for their ideal power, their aesthetic beauty. Sutton has also worked with many different shapes and forms but is currently using triangles or working within the architecture of the grid.  At Grey Gallery they bring together a mix of paintings and works on paper that explore the beautiful geometry of circle, square and triangle”.

This is a beautiful show, beautiful use of colour, crisp, precise, almost graceful. Pieces and relationships that are warm rather than the cold thing geometrical painting can sometimes be, finely balanced, cohesive, it is so easy to get the colour wrong with these things, neither artist does. Circle, square, triangle, waves, crystal clear, not quite by the hour and off on tangent that couldn’t be resisted, these pieces are hard to resist. Beautifully precise, a satisfying aesthetic, an exhibition that really does do all the talking for itself and it really doesn’t need to do too much, it is just quietly there waiting and wanting to be enjoyed. It isn’t always obvious where one artist starts and the other ends, not sure that matters in terms of this particular show and this collection of work, there’s a positive chemistry here, a balance, the whole thing feels right.

We are of course forever cherry picking our way through the things the ever evolving London art scene has to offer, selecting the best to cover, Heaven Earth and Human Beingsis a rather crisp, rather subtle, rather beautiful, rather recommended show, a show that’s well worth your time and effort. (sw)      

The Grey Gallery on this occasion is found at 4 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB. The Gallery is only open on weekends, midday until 5pm Saturday and Sunday. The show runs from 2nd November until  8th December 2024.