LONDON.-Camden Arts Centre presents an exhibition of works by two major figures in British abstract art, Kenneth Martin and Mary Martin. Kenneth Martin’s mobile sculptures and Mary Martin’s reliefs combine a systematic approach with striking innovation. At the forefront of artists who ‘rediscovered’ abstraction during the 1940s, they studied at the Royal College of Art, where they met.

Kenneth Martin’s large-scale mobile commissioned for London Zoo has been specially restored for this exhibition, their first joint show in a public gallery since 1971. They lived and worked in Hampstead, close to Camden Arts Centre, and both artists were part of the post-war British Constructionist group which included Victor Pasmore and Adrian Heath.

‘It is possible to make mobiles which develop interesting movements and to let chance play within a limited field, to let the air in the room create ovals, figure eights and so forth.’ Kenneth Martin

The exhibition focuses on Kenneth Martin’s mobiles from the 1950s-1970s, his later Chance and Order series of abstract paintings and Mary Martin’s elegant relief sculptures and maquettes from the 1950s and 60s.

At the heart of their work is the idea of construction, the building of abstract forms around mathematical principals. This methodical approach allowed for chance and surprise. For his Chance and Order series, Kenneth Martin drew lots to determine lines within grids, a system infused with arbitrary elements. Mary Martin often used permutations determined by mathematical principals, such as the Golden Section or the Fibonacci sequence.

Kenneth Martin & Mary Martin: Constructed Works is organised by Camden Arts Centre in collaboration with De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill and travels to Tate St Ives (6 October - 13 January 2007).