FIELD, Kerlin Gallery, Anne’s Lane, South Anne St, Dublin Until Oct 17 01-6709093

Mark Francis is one of those artists whose work seems increasingly if disturbingly pertinent as time goes by. From early on, his paintings referred to scales beyond the reach of the human eye, whether on the microscopic or telescopic level, evoking processes that fundamentally affect us but are beyond us. There was a dark underside to such imagery, rendered as it was in a way that recalled photomicrography and comparable analytical means of recording images.

The grid that has latterly formed a structural scaffolding in his paintings is suggestive of “networks, maps, road and rail systems”, often providing avenues of expansion for ominous agents of destruction and disease.

Francis turns his attention more to the grid, generating complicated structural masses that extend the range of possible interpretations. The note of foreboding is still there.

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The Wandering Image NCAD Gallery, Dublin Until Oct 10