The artists exhibiting in this group show have all embarked on the risky path of rendering in paint or brass the imperceptible world of emotions, impressions and memories. They set out ‘against the security of the real’, abandon the safe realm of the clear and tangible and attempt to depict and explore the unknown and unconscious.

It has been a long standing concern for artists to challenge reality and penetrate the surface in order to bring out something that is as ephemeral and eluding as it is thrilling and mysterious. Here contemporary artists of different generations (Hans Josephsohn is in his 80s, while Shaun McDowell is a recent art college graduate) continue this tradition and choose different means to the same end. Their works vary in scale, media, colouring and even degrees of abstraction, but given the title of the show and the wide-spread notion of an artist’s mission that audiences bring to the work, one cannot help but see these powerful and enigmatic compositions as emotional self-portraits, products of self-reflection and exploration and intense inner life.

It is worthwhile taking notice of some of the titles, as at times they do not seem to have much to do with the works and with nothing in the known world either, such as Katy Moran’s Volestere. The name is inscribed somewhere in the artist’s memory, and the clueless viewer is left with little more but to be puzzled and fascinated. Yet the uneasy task of displaying many ultimately similar pieces without boring the viewer has been handled successfully by the curators. In the upstairs room the silent lucidity of Maaike Schoorel’s white pieces is brilliantly contrasted with saturated vibrations of McDowell’s works, reminding the spectator that not only does the emotion have colour, but also that the soul has music.

Until Feb 7

JEVGENIJA RAVCOVA