Abstraction and illusion are not usually associated, but, as in that most sophisticated type of ancient ornament that uses plants, animals or human faces to make simplified, abstract patterns, the two really do meet in his work. This is the illusion that I find most thrilling: an illusion that might in turn evoke inner or outer space, the density of a forest, the enormity of an ocean, the mystery of the night or the intensity of the sun, not to mention the music of the spheres.Jason Martin by Norman Rosenthal, Charta catalogue, Lisson gallery, London, 2004