Darragh Hogan

This is a surprise and a bonus, coming as it does in the late-summer doldrums when new talents or novel events are rarely launched…

This is a surprise and a bonus, coming as it does in the late-summer doldrums when new talents or novel events are rarely launched. According to the gallery handout, Darragh Hogan is only 24 this year, although he has won a number of scholarships and awards. In general, I have certain misgivings about artists in their early twenties having one-man or one-woman exhibitions - too often, it is a case of premature birth, with all that entails. But there is no disputing the panache and even authority of this show; Hogan is now definitely on the map.

The big outer room of the Solomon hangs nine fairly large-scale paintings, colourful and billowy and with an impressive ease of handling paint. Strictly speaking, they inhabit a world somewhere between figurativism and abstraction; objects and things - a bed with pillows, a small table etc. - are strongly suggested if not actually depicted. It hardly matters, since these paintings are primarily about resonant, expansive colour and an almost brash lyricism.

Inside in the small gallery are massed a number of small works, equally free and painterly and with the same self-confident lyricism. All that is lacking - and it may seem a carping reservation - is a really individual style; this is very much post-de Kooning painting combining abstract brushwork with hints of intimist subject matter. But that should come in time; what is beyond doubt is that a strong new talent has arrived.

Until September 3rd.