Martin Poyner & Owen Piper

Returning to Newcastle, where they first crossed paths as young artists over 20 years ago, Owen Piper & Martin Poyner probe the relevance & emotional cost of making abstract art in 2024, presenting LEGEPS N∃ I MOƧÅƧ, a title fragmented from Ingmar Bergman’s Swedish language, Sasom I En Spegel*, of a young woman’s descent into madness amongst the pitiful, passive men of her life.

Poyner offers a rapid-fire, 11-minute existential, alphabetised doomscroll of 528 half-second images & fleeting gifs of crosses, intersections & folkloric crossbreeds, alongside a separate Steve Reich hommage multi-channel audio-loop of Kate Moss missing La Croix, & introduces a series of improvised cruciform physical works crafted from salvaged wood, paper, paint & metal - an ongoing physical exploration of the cross, the anti-rectangle.

In contrast, Piper’s Kate Moss Garden unfurls as a sprawling floor installation of over 1000 green-toned paintings on A4 paper of the model, evolving as visitors move through it, leaving their traces upon it. A free, CK-One-scented, risograph edition accompanies the piece, along with three Trellis Paintings on fabric.

Art is a rare forum where risking shame & ridicule offers a vital licence to experiment, discover & intersect in wonderful ways.

* literally: "through a mirror”, in English released as "Through a Glass Darkly”