Artists: Tony Benn, Louisa Chambers, Chris Cook, Claire Dorsett, Richard Dyer, Zavier Ellis, Peter Lynch, Christine Stark, Michael Stubbs, Mark Wright, Raymond Yap (curated by Tony Benn, organised by Peter Lynch)

Dirty synth is a show that brings together a diverse range of artists all working in painting and all investigating the exciting possibilities for abstract painting to engage with its audience. The use of the
haptic (touch) and materiality of painting (how the painting is touched) makes a direct connection to the viewer. The title arose from a conversation with Zavier Ellis around the claims for purity of Modernist abstract painting, a claim that both of us found implausible. In its full version, Dirty Synthetic. The shortening of the word was to create poetic compaction and create an uncertainty about whether it is the synthetic or the synthesis that is being evoked. If it was the synthesis then that position of synthesising
opposing positions, dialectics, would quickly be apparent as implausible with the paintings chosen. The synthetic however, provokes feelings of disgust: synthetic material, polycotton shirts, inauthentic colours. Dirt is simply matter in the wrong place. If we are living in dystopic times then this show is a testament to the belief that painting can affirm the times we are living in socially and mortally.

This exhibition gave me the rare opportunity to show two framed, collage pieces on paper from 2012 which comprised of stencilled spray paints and shop bought, neon advertising stickers.