Framing fleeting moments; considering objects, people, places; capturing thoughts that pass through the mind. The artist’s working process is the subject of this exhibition as preparatory materials including snap shot prints, contacts and mobile phone images are inserted into the frame to become objects of both revelation and intrigue. The viewer is invited to contemplate these objects as tools that give form to concepts – the guiding force towards a realised work.

Third in the Jerwood Visual Arts Encounters series, the exhibition aims to stimulate conversation connecting the numerous artistic disciplines across which the Jerwood programme works. The space is immersed in geometric grid-like patterns - the shapes of the tiled floor echo through the installation. Curator Catherine Yass demystifies the artistic process and penetrates thought pattern, to reveal a conventionally concealed activity: the sketched, raw compositional framing methods of Alex Katz that isolate human activity are laid bare. She sees an ‘underlying sense of contingency’ in photography, as a medium that fosters thought and posits evolution. A photograph oscillates between the states of the tangible and intangible – while it is materially present, captured moments bleed beyond the boundaries of the image to be played out in the imagination. Endless potentiality ensues; just imagine the possibilities before the image is fixed, while its chemical surface is changeable and volatile. Anything is possible - a plethora of paths down which to venture.

This exhibition is simple and elegant and welcomes the viewer to really consider and further explore the work of these artists even beyond the confines of the gallery walls - which is underlined by the lack of interpretive material in the show. Ambiguous meaning is celebrated; these preparatory materials stimulate the thoughts of the viewer as much as they do the artist. Highlights include the ethereal light reflections captured by Sarah Jones, and the rows of antique flea market objects compiled by Cornelia Parker - both wonderful, and indeed objects of interest in their own right. The exhibition underlines the exploratory mind of the artist, and makes process accessible to ultimately highlight its integral importance to any finished work.

Until Dec 13

LOUISA ELDERTON