Edwin Aitken and Simon Burton, two of the very first Floating World contributors, are showing new paintings in a group show at Arch 402 Gallery in London. The show entitled "A Sort of Night to the Mind, A KIND OF NIGHT FOR OUR THOUGHTS, Illusion and Materiality in Contemporary Painting", runs from 6 May – 10  June,  2011, and is veritable who's who of contemporary painting.

The artists showing are; Phillip Allen,  Edwin Aitken,  Andrew Bick,  Simon Burton,  Varda Caivano,  Leigh Clarke, Nigel Cooke,  Moyra Derby,  Pamela Golden,  Mark Hampson,  Beth Harland,  Mark Harris, Vincent Hawkins,  Claude Heath,  Paul Housley,  Roger Kelly,  Bob Matthews,  Andrea Medjesi-Jones, Jost Münster,  Martina Schmid,  Joel Tomlin,  Phoebe Unwin,  Julian Wakelin.
The show has been curated by Moyra Derby and Bob Matthews.

Moyra Derby has written a persuasive and topical Essay to accompany the show, here is an excerpt to give you an idea;

"Balzac’s account of illusion opens up a world of imagination made possible by fading light, ‘a kind of night for our thoughts’, or variously translated as ‘a sort of night to the mind’ (2). These alternative versions of Balzac’s description form the title of this exhibition of paintings. The negotiation between the actuality of a materially marked surface and the potential for that surface to contain the appearance of something is framed differently in each of the works presented here.

Illusion and Materiality are often considered as terms in opposition; an engagement with one implying the suppression of the other. Balzac’s description, from the early 19th Century, positions materiality as a necessary carrier for an illusionistic outcome, but one that needs to be curtailed in order for illusion to triumph. This sense of curtailment works both ways, when contrarily the physicality of paint and surface is activated in order to counteract spatial illusion. Though Balzac’s position still has resonance, it is maybe less familiar to us than a mid 20th Century position that sees the perception of space in painting as problematic in itself. The train of thought that argues for the inappropriateness of the depicted 3 dimensional on an actual 2 dimensional surface has been very resilient, and has informed in one way or another much of the criticisms of painting from the 60’s onwards (3). Balzac talks about the ‘physical tricks’ or ruses of art, and it is maybe this connection between illusion and deception that has provoked the unease."

(2) ‘a kind of night for our thoughts’ as translated by Sylvia Raphael 1977 Penguin Books, ‘a sort of night to the mind’ as translated by Clara Bell Classic Literature Library classic- literature.co.uk
(3) see as an example Donald Judd’s objections to painting in favour of actual space in ‘Specific Objects’ 1965, ‘the problem of illusionism.... one of the salient and most objectionable relics of European art’.

For the full text, check out the Gallery's website, www.arch402.com

Images of the show to follow soon...