MARK FRANCIS | THE GUARDIAN

EXHIBITION PICKS OF THE WEEK

Mark Francis, Kendal

Mark Francis first gained acclaim in the early-90s with paintings of what looked like close-ups of sperm. As he developed, the animated blobs looked like anything teeming with small-scale or cosmic energy. This was distinctive stuff, like a microscopic or telescopic super-reality. Yet, even at their most pulsating, Francis's organic goings-on were always set on a grid-like backdrop of darkness. His more recent work retains the micro/macro ambiguity while the grids now evoke aerial or astronomy maps, or a mass of musical notations. Scenes that lie at the limits of vision.

Abbot Hall, to 3 Jul

Robert Clark and Skye Sherwin —