This exhibition is centred on a deliberate conflict between a viewing space in Hackney and paintings by three good-looking men. There are parallels and overlaps at work in the paintings of Jack, James and Neil as much as there are tensions and departures. Along with Simon, the gallery director, there are four men in the equation, fighting–Queensbury rules–respectfully as colleagues. They share a supreme confidence in the radical possibilities that the basic elements of paint applied to a flat rectangular surface can provide.  There are no insecurities whatsoever regarding newer technologies and mediums that stake claim to contemporary relevance.

These are three artists who rely on looking – the retinal image rich with the evidence of process – as a means to achieve satisfaction. Their work offers a place for the eye to pause from its constant frenetic movement, made all the more convulsive by the non-stop saturation of image and experience in contemporary cities. These artists are sensitive to this excessive condition to the point of allergic, but heightened awareness also gives them their strengths. Notably they are all incredibly particular in their use of materials that register gesture towards the construction of an image.

This exhibition deliberately seeks to destabilise and test the talents and abilities these three have, by pitting them together, with their similarities and contradictions: James Iveson, who presents painting as a ’screen’, using the surface composition of male clothing to conversely hide and point to, what is not visible; the stillness of Jack Vickridge’s printed open compositions that are the visual equivalent of the sound of dust during the ‘silence’ on vinyl; and Neil Rumming, who also uses the indexical printed mark, and seems to have hired a preposterously large assistant, who has become his protégé, advisor and muse.

Between themselves, they have chosen to exhibit inappropriately large pieces obliterating walls, alongside appropriately sized paintings on a wall challenged by architectural and domestic necessities. Jack, James and Neil show a desire to see, think and articulate, to live even, within the confines of the rectangular formats of paper, stretcher and canvas. This show is intended as an intrusive type of collaboration between architecture, curator and artists to aggravate that within the frame position. (Stuart Cumberland)

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at Christopher Crescent, London

through January 27, 2011

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All images – Courtesy of Christopher Crescent, London