I visited the new exhibition at Ikon the other day. The paintings of Chinese born artist Zhang Enli are subtle things that I think I’m going to have to visit again. Painting is a more subtle language that often does need time from the viewer, but they didn’t work their magic for me if I’m honest. They are paintings based on photographs, and explore, amongst other things, the relationship between the two media. I’m finding this less and less interesting and in these paintings I felt like I’d seen it all before: the loose brushwork and thin turpsy paint; the photographic framing; the banal objects. But, I’ve often found my first impressions misjudged, so I think I would like to go and see them again. I think I was a bit put off by the gallery’s literature too, which felt so predictable in it’s explanations of the work. I’ll ignore that next time. 
By comparison, ‘Re-imagining Asia’ at New Art Gallery Walsall was much more interesting. I visited it this afternoon with my young nephew, Oliver who is twelve years old. His enthusiasm kept any of my prejudices and cynicism in check, which is no bad thing. It was a lovely afternoon.
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