Mark Francis is a transmitter/receiver. Were he living in darkened nights of blitzkrieg London in the 40s, I rather suspect that Mark would be patiently turning the dials in search of stray sonic signals, perpetually seeking to catch, if not ‘break’ the code. This inclination, to apprehend his environment as more than the sum of its parts - to make sense of the larger ecosystem that we all function in, may’ve guided aspects of his processes over the years, but the more I look at his paintings I sense that though they do arise partially from a sensitive observation and empiricism, what is ultimately manifest in these beautiful paintings is liberated from doctrine and process. Francis is without question a painter of real consequence blessed with an extraordinary capacity to guide his materials in their morphosis from tubular compression to the wildly augmented life they express on canvas.