Charles Mason' three new works fill the gallery deploying a deceptively minimal approach, using among other materials, pipe lagging, concrete, scaffolding and ceramic tiles, which he combines to create seductive sculptures drawing in the viewer to a subtle game of recognition.
Untitled (Italian marble mosaic, concrete, porcelain tiles) 2008 resembles a discarded wheel lying beside a Carl Andre road of shiny porcelain floor tiles. Another In the Loop 2008 is a rubber padded scaffold and concrete structure in which the viewers reflection is trapped by an eight by four feet sheet of black translucent acrylic reminiscent of 1970s smoked Perspex. Resting on brackets Upside down 2008 utilizes another piece of Perspex, sitting shelf like it produces a dark corner in the gallery.
Surfaces are played off against industrial materials which themselves are stretched and extended. Materials that normally fabricate and furnish our daily lives are elevated to awkwardly probe the psychological world in which they now find themselves.
These new sculptures are part of an evolving series, another of which will be presented at the Fiac later this month.
Charles Mason (b) 1962 lives and works in London. This is the second solo exhibition at Cortex Athletico. The first in 2007 coincided with a site specific sculpture in the impressive Sant Agnese Square during the 52nd Venice Biennial. He first exhibited with the gallery in Urban Formalism with Laura White, a joint exhibition between Cortex Athletico and the Capc Museum curated by Zoë Gray.