When Alberts is good at painting he's very good but when he's not quite up to par it shows, as this exhibition demonstrates. More then a few works displayed here reflect the artist's normal high standard, however there are some that disappoint and probably should not have been presented.

Without a doubt, scenarios and figure works are preferable to attempts at pure landscape. Parks and gardens as subject are not this artist's forte, however they do serve him well when employed as backdrops. Alberts skill in drawing the figure is greatly appreciated as is his ability to create a moody setting or undefined, yet somehow familiar, narrative. This is well exemplified in the small oil on board, Visited, where a barefoot man in grey T-shirt and trousers sits by a grey monument in a grey park. He is surrounded by three men, each neatly dressed in a different coloured suit of red, blue or yellow. We don't know if they're salesmen practising their banter on a captive audience or, more probably, visions projected from the madness of the barefoot man. We do know, it's the fine handling of the medium that encourages the mysterious mood.

This should have been the case in the larger oil on linen, Sienna and Blue, another intriguing narrative, however the less then exact handling of the medium tends to disrupt its mood. Here the foreground is filled by a large, beautifully drawn figure in blue reclining with her back to us. She stares across a broad sienna coloured ground to a small, blue suited man sitting far away in front of the tree lined high horizon. The distance separating the figures is both physical and emotional leaving us to wonder if it can ever be crossed. But the mood is broken by the poorly painted washes suggestive of shadows interrupting the space between the figures.

Two very different works in oil, Covers and Self Portrait (Blue Shirt) testify to what this artist can do so well. In the former a collection of colour is well employed to present a fine composition in 'black and white', while the latter shows how excellent brush work and selection of hues can create a strong image, one that reveals a mind behind the eyes. Another gem is the ink and pastel work M.Corot with its fine sketch like character.

This is an interesting exhibition, for it's strengths and weaknesses as it reveals how the artist is prepared to experiment, extend and grow. Now that's always a good thing.