Kathryn Cowen’s small-scale paintings are populated by mysterious, often lonely figures. These characters exist within ethereal expanses of sky where thickly-laid acrylic gives way to watercolour-like washes of colour and constellations of droplets. Cowen’s paintings allow the viewer space to imagine what ancient or futuristic fable these players may have drifted from.

The hard-edged, figurative drawings and paintings of Justin Cooper refer to art historical traditions from Japanese illustration to Surrealist landscapes. However their intense colours and segmented surfaces tell a more contemporary story, of graphic novels, pixels and screen culture. Cooper also works with ceramic to create experimental sculptures which push the boundaries of the medium.

Sunlight is the main protagonist in the urban-scapes of Hendrik Kolenberg, where human figures are absent. Kolenberg’s drawings and paintings capture the play of light over the rooftops of the city, highlighting the many angles and mysterious geometric forms which commune and converse above our heads.

By bringing together domestic craft techniques and objects such as power tools, Charlotte Haywood creates a tension that brings into question notions of femininity and masculinity, and gendered roles. As well as creating soft skins for hard objects, Haywood makes tapestry-like vignettes that carry a traditional medium into the realms of pop culture.

The works of Jan Riske also speak to a tapestry tradition, however it is as a painter that Riske weaves his magic. Over a distinguished career the artist has developed a signature technique whereby formalist geometry tugs against rough, thickly textured paint to create abstract expressionist works with a seductive spatial complexity.

The abstracted landscapes of Brooke Thompson have their origins in the alchemy of water. Thompson uses painting and complex printmaking techniques to explore and respond to nature’s organic cadences. The marks made by the corresponding rhythms of the artist’s hand shimmer like an aquatic surface.

Through her works on paper Sal Moffatt also strives to reflect nature’s truths, both soft and harsh. Working alone and en plein air, Moffatt communes with her surroundings. The resulting graphic and charcoal drawings encapsulate the elemental solitude of the artist’s time in the bush.

Whether working in figuration or abstraction, A-M’s artists share a process-based approach to art making, characterised by a curiosity and respect for materials. Taking emotional and physical landscapes as starting points, the properties of the medium and rhythms of mark-making guide the evolution of their work. A-M Gallery is a conceptual and conversational hub through which audiences can follow the development of these artists’ practices into the future.