GRAVITY – JOHN ARMLEDER, PAUL CZERLITZKI, IAN DAVENPORT, KOEN DELAERE, MARK FRANCIS, CALLUM INNES, INGO MELLER

“The body, she says, is subject to the force of gravity. But the soul is ruled by levity, pure.”

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow probably didn’t have Marilyn Monroe in mind and nor she when she famously said “I defy gravity”. For a time Marilyn certainly seemed to as her star soared, resisting the weight of expectation before gravity, combined with the pressures of fame caused her to come crashing down.

Our common understanding of Newtonian gravity is apprehended through the body and the forces that act upon us and certainly, my rather flimsy appreciation of the science doesn’t allow for any useful insight into the physics of it. The notion of gravity – one that is about force and perhaps even about the pressure that the best artworks can exert equally on our body and our consciousness, is one that if we are fortunate, we might experience from time to time with art.

Each of these painters leverage the science, co-opting the relentless agency of nature to assist in their making – but none are beholden to it, indeed some flat our resist it  These are not ‘paintings as hypothesis’ – systemic experiments seeking proof of anything. Indeed, my sense is that they are delighted when their laboratory experiments goes awry. Out of fluidity and flux comes opportunity.

For Ian Davenport, John Armleder and Paul Czerlitzki in particular, gravity encourages their material’s (mis)behaviour – Koen Delaere, Mark Francis, Ingo Meller and Callum Innes chose to work both with and against this invisible force in the pursuit of an esoteric dualism. All appreciate that exploring and exposing evidence of the fundamental forces that determine the actuality of our world, offers them the possibility to express something fundamental about our shared experience, it’s perpetuity and our fragile limitations. 

These partnerships between intention, material and physical action and their diverse consequences utterly transcend any notion of process and speak to systems that are as much unknown as known. This leap of faith that each take on the springboard of making is at the heart of our fascination with what they do and express each day and even if, like Marilyn and Icarus, flight is temporary, levitation remains the most alluring trick.

For Gravity, Fox Jensen has assembled major artworks by some of the most serious and considered painters working today. We are humbled by their support of this exhibition and look forward to seeing you.

Andrew Jensen, April 2026