Martin McGinn's new oil paintings make a stark and intriguing departure from his earlier works. These pictures, of supermarket shelves, high street off-licenses and cornershops, are more suggestive and representational than his minimal paintings. McGinn is still exploring the ways in which to present an architectural, three dimensional space on the two dimensional picture plane, but now he does so with quick, swift brush marks to convey overwhelming, enveloping spaces. The idiosyncrasies of each place are unmistakable: the harsh fluorescent lighting, the lingering cigarette smoke, or the incessant hum of a cooler in the back of the shop.
Robert Wilson concentrates on the food itself, or rather the image of food as concocted by the advertising industry. His paintings reflect his preoccupation with the marketing and presentation of food as attractive and desirable to the consumer. The standardised and idealised manner which advertisers often employ extends far beyond the requirement that food be nutritional and substantial. It is within this paradox that Wilson fosters an emotional and contemplative response.
William Cruickshank offers a sculptural foil to the paintings in Food Hall. His piece is a vast expanse of wasps, each meticulously pinned to a table after having been carefully removed from a butcher shop's hanging insect exterminator and preserved in chrome. The wasps are a shop owner's menace, and in Food Hall they are an ironic and canny reminder of what may be lurking behind and plaguing the hygienic aisles and preserved edibles portrayed in McGinn's and Wilson's paintings.
Martin McGinn's work is in private and public collections, including the Saatchi Collection, the Government Art Collection, the British Council and several museum collections. Recent exhibitions include Phobia at Houldsworth, Death to the Facist Insect... at Anthony d'Offay Gallery, and Natura della Luce in Florence and Venice. Robert Wilson had his first solo exhibition at Houldsworth to much acclaim. His work is in numerous collections, including the Saatchi Collection. William Cruickshank is a young London based artist.
