alking into the gallery hung with Jon Tootill's recent paintings is an exhilarating experience. The overall effect is of light and colour creating a sensation of visual pleasure, free from distractions, and allowing an immediate contact with the works. Rather than fighting with one another the paintings seem to create a harmonious whole, each relating to the others while having its own identity. All share the same curving, coloured same-sized motif arranged in a grid on white canvases. The art is abstract but has a feeling of organic life and movement. This one motif creates the imagery by the way it is varied in colour, disposition, and repetition. Set precisely in alignment with the horizontal and vertical axes of the canvas, it provides a modular unit that builds a range of related but unique images. There is a challenge to the viewer in seeing how so much has been extracted from such limited means. Alongside the decorative aspect there is also a perceptual one;
