Andrew Baldwin's latest exhibition continues the theme of the void so strongly presented in his 2014 exhibition at Beaver Galleries. The current show is also strong and sees the artist expanding his palette and repertoire of forms. Earlier forms continue particularly the vessel and these have attained a morphological maturity that gives them an assured presence in the gallery space. Blue Void 19 (Cat.1) is a stately form, direct ad forthright in its simplicity. The blue lines (almost signature with Baldwin) simultaneously delineate the form yet are contained by it. The swirling energies of the network of lines are a potent contrast to the vessel's stilled quietness. The elision of stasis and kinesis is exemplary of the artist's best works and speaks of his ability to control two ostensibly opposite phenomena. Baldwin also uses the ellipse in particularly efficacious ways throughout the exhibition. In Blue Void 19 the slightly off-centre placement of the central elliptical voids is a subtle reinforcement of the stasis-kinesis effect I referred to above. It is as though the voids are the vortex created by the swirling mass of lines that move around them. This is seen in a number of works and to great effect in Amber Void 4 (Cat.8). Here the handsome form and activated surface are beautifully coalesced.

Void 18 (Cat.3) is a (more) tapered form that pushes up into its surrounding space. That thrust is elegantly drawn back to earth by the rhythmically patterned lines and the attenuated ellipse that sit within the form. Green Void 1 (Cat.12) marries powerful form with an almost lyrical decorative softness expressed through the delicate green lines.

While simple geometric forms predominate the artist also shows a number of forms with an Oriental flavour. I am thinking more of the Middle East than of the Far East, more Arabic less Chinoiserie. These tapering, flame-like forms have a quiet elegance and provide appealing contrast to the majority sturdiness of the other more simplified forms. White Void 4 exemplifies Baldwin's astute use of white. The lines here are imbued with a wonderful energy and delicately insistent presence that give this (and others, White Void 7,Cat.13 and White Void 3, Cat.14 for example) a particularly seductive beauty. The white lines are sometimes almost transparent; a quality that speaks eloquently of the material from which they are made.

While it may be a clȋché it is also nevertheless true that glass is about light and the transference of its qualities through the forms created by the artist. The combination of light, form and space as seen in Baldwin's works beautifully exemplifies this.