Sorcha Dallas

Resourcefully inventive and full of secret smiles, Charlie Hammond’s exhibition at Sorcha Dallas recalls rainy childhood days when you had only a box of paints and a few sheets of paper to go around. In one painting, black roads with white lines form a fresh licorice-coloured racetrack against a pale backdrop of faded shapes, redrawn to the point of exhaustion. Look again and a face emerges, as the confusion of circles and squares resolves itself into eyes, nose and mouth. In another memorable work, two white moons become a giant bum, above which thick squiggles of acrylic erupt in a fart. The childlike pleasure of Hammond’s work is studied, though – a shrewd game of perception and artistic control.