Victoria Morton @ The Modern Institute

Seeing the small flyer for Victoria Morton’s show in Aird’s Lane, without any sense of scale the shiny reproduction gives the sense that the work is precious: refracting light in glassy layers. On the wall though, they’re huge. With so many shapes, colours, forms, the works can’t be consumed in a single glance.

There’s a sense of domestic disorder in the work Photosynthesis. Yellows, reds, purples, blues, pinks, greens, a collection of different forms feel forced into cramped coexistence. Think of a cupboard under the stairs where all of the items categorised 'Misc.' are kept; so full, closing the door is a precarious struggle of forces. Compositionally, the different elements feel close – bold streaks of paint don’t leave many illusions of space.

Though listed first in the counterclockwise sequence of listed works, this is not the painting encountered first. On the wall opposite the entrance is Delay Dispersion, the same painting from the promo flyer. Without thinking, it comes across at first glance expected, just a lot larger. But a closer approach gives away the detail of the pattern of faint flesh toned purple pinks that complicate the surface, then again the same in a light yellow and a school of dark blue dots. As what appeared whole disintegrates, the title thrashes poetically: Delay Dispersion. 

Between the works, there’s a variety of densities of markmaking and saturation of colour: at points pastel and translucent, but can also be vibrant and thickly brushed on. Forms shift and settle  into an endless series of different configurations as details become apparent (a speckling of black dots, for example) each one as persuasive as its predecessor. Struggling to perceive all the picture’s complicated contents at once, any hierarchy is only provisional as no one mode of seeing is prescribed. [Adam Benmakhlouf]