Core Sample showcases abstract painters in the Two Rooms stable selecting a single artwork, and as a sign of things to come, each will have a solo presentation at the gallery within the year. The exhibition features new and recent paintings by Gretchen Albrecht, Matt Arbuckle, Andrew Barber and Tira Walsh – artworks making their first appearance at Two Rooms – alongside newcomer Robbie Fraser.

Core Sample borrows its name from the title of a painting in the show by Matt Arbuckle, whose loosely layered bands of colour suggest strata and other associations. The viewer might think of archaeological and other scientific methods employed to derive a core sample from given research terrain, drilling down in order to reveal new knowledge excavated from beneath the surface. They might draw parallels with these painters' investigations of surface and depth, materials and meanings, and frames of reference. This eclectic exhibition presents a cross-section of their practices – balancing the dark and dangerous pallette, gestural and geometric – and celebrating the diverse aesthetic, cultural and conceptual potential of contemporary abstraction.

Press release courtesy Two Rooms.