THERE are exactly ten paintings in this exhibition by John Shinnors (who by the way, is a Limerick man by birth) and seemingly all have been sold. This of course, may mean relatively little in terms of quality, but at least it indicates a degree of informed public interest. Which in itself seems fully justified, since this is a very convincing exhibition and proves that Shinnors, though a rather slow developer, continues to shape a strongly personal style and to refine his technique and "touch".

His early pictures were "strong" but relatively conventional, with a characteristic tendency to base his palette in blacks and whites. Gradually, the subject matter grew less literal, a note of mystery and ambiguity was added, and you were increasingly faced by canvases in which themes and figures could be glimpsed or decoded, but were not spelled out. He still tends to build his pictures formally in terms of inter flocking rectangles and triangles, with soft yet firm outlines no "hard edge" effects, yet nothing dreamy or vague either. This is a very specific vocabulary, not easy to put into words, yet it can be "read" on its own terms.

In Black Clown with Young the title is teasing, yet there appears to be a female figure on the right, in tights. In Shooting Star, Loop Head a kind of flattened nocturnal landscape is crossed by a slash of white pigment in Scarecrow, Small Circus the imagery is almost enigmatic, yet vibrant and suggestive. This is, perhaps, the finest picture in the exhibition.

Shinnors is now a very good painter indeed, although he may not belong to the type of career artist who travels to Venice or, for that matter, to Paris. Which is possibly, or even probably, an inverted compliment he has something specifically of his own to say, not something purely for the moment.