The paintings in Bruise exert a curious fascination. The artists all distressed the surfaces of their paintings in some way. In some of the works, the structure of the paint was chemically corrupted; in others, it was smeared, rubbed and grazed, worn away, scored into. Sometimes it was applied so thinly that it rests in uneven, poignant layers. Much is often left largely to chance; the paint being allowed to form itself into luscious organic patterns. Although the paintings are abstract, many of the artists see them as metaphors for the human body in some way.

This exhibition examines strange internal workings (the behaviour of the paint), external intrusions (the hand of the artist) and the possibility of chaos (the artist giving up control). Equally, there are paintings which involve an acute conceptual precision. The paintings in Bruise have an extraordinary, precarious vitality. As one artist said, “If I am uncomfortable, I know I am alive…” 

Artists include: Mikey Cuddihy, Roger Kite, Nicholas May, Estelle Thompson, Alison Turnbull and Joseph Mark Wright.