Enjoy the twists and turns of the abstract at Warwick Arts Centre

A SHOW of exclusively abstract paintings might represent a daunting prospect for those who only feel comfortable with recognisable reflections on the visible world.

But this collaboration between the Mead Gallery and Tate St Ives offers a rare chance to become familiar with and even enjoy the many twists and turns of this essentially modern movement.

The 20th century was the heyday of abstraction. The search for a fresh visual language reflected the ethos of a time when the new was thought to be best and the past best forgotten.

Abstraction is less driven today by such historical imperatives and this is reflected in the show. Iconic works such as Frank Stella’s Hyena Stomp are seen side by side with more contemporary paintings, including Francis Baudevin’s The Only Truth, painted directly on the walls of the gallery. What the two works have in common is geometry.

Formal geometry is the natural territory of abstraction but the more anarchic world of the expressive gesture is equally important. There are numerous examples here of the application of paint on canvas that are as wildly unpredictable as reality itself.

The show would have benefited from the inclusion of a key work or two from the abstract-expressionist period, but the many beautiful examples of loose handling that appear on every wall, serve to plug this gap in an intriguing variety of ways. The ingenious use of paint and the sometimes baffling methods of application will surprise and please sceptics and aficionados alike. Some of these works defy analysis, others are beautifully different, but none are more iconic or authoritative than Bridget Riley’s Cantus Firmus. Time stands still in this 1970s work as it quietly steals the show.

Peter McCarthy