Again is a Gain, #6 1971

Frederick Hammersley made this hard-edge geometric painting, Again is a Gain, #6, with a clear love of process. The approach to mark making is so exact, but within that precision, there's a real sense of play. Looking closely, the surface reveals itself. The blacks are opaque, sitting firmly against the white, while the white seems almost translucent, allowing the under layers to subtly breathe through. There’s something so satisfying about the starkness of the color and the unwavering straightness of the lines, especially how the squares interact. Notice how they seem to be pulled in tension, creating a dynamic relationship. Hammersley's work reminds me a bit of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings, with its minimalist aesthetic and focus on geometric forms, but there is something very distinctive about Hammersley’s approach to painting, like an ongoing conversation where ambiguity is more welcome than fixed meaning.