Adam Milford reviews works by Sandra Blow at Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn and The Exchange, Penzance, Cornwall, on view through October 4, 2014.

Milford writes: "On heading out of the gallery, you encounter the huge painting Swimmer, 1987. It’s predominantly blue and grey, with white dry-brushed marks and coloured collage emphasising a bulging blue area on the left. Again, many revisions are apparent across its surface, adding to a sense of meniscus-like tautness or containment… Blow is an artist whose work often invites comparison with a number of others. Burri and Matisse are often evoked, usually followed by a statement on the use of non-art materials or brightly coloured collaged surfaces. While there is validity in both observations, there is an excitement about Blow’s paintings – asymmetry, dynamism, or tension perhaps – that works without an overarching reliance on pattern or elegance"