Dual display of brushwork

Two complementary exhibitions offer Whitechapel Art Gallery's first painting show in over four years.

The ground floor and half of the upper floor is dedicated to the first UK survey of Belgian artist Raoul de Keyser, while a partitioned space upstairs offers a small cross-section of younger British painters.

Spanning four decades and ostensibly abstract, de Keyser's soft-edged paintings, often in muted shades, offer subtle clues to the outside world: leaves, blurry figures in retreat, the edges of a window pane.

Often it's their utter simplicity that arrests. One canvas has an orangey beige background with two rectangles pushing against its edges, green on the left, red on the right. It's a simple and direct statement about oppositions of colour and form.

With their delicate markings and veiled surfaces, other paintings appear more sophisticated. But de Keyser could never be described as a 'difficult' artist. Accessible and easy to fall in love with, these modestly-sized canvases offer a refreshing departure from many of de Keyser's European contemporaries. There are no slippery notions of meaning.

After such a seductive and uplifting display, Edge Of The Real seems a strange adjunct. Gary Hume's contribution, in which a blue square is encircled by a reflective surface, hangs opposite a huge, almost Hockney-esque portrait by Merlin Carpenter, while the hyper-detailed paintings of George Shaw, David Thorpe and David Rayson offer the only coherent grouping.

Though certainly interesting, it's too small a survey to lend any real insight into the broad spectrum of current British painting.

Until May 23, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Whitechapel High Street E1, Tue to Sun 11am to 6pm (Thu to 9pm), free. Tel: 020 7522 7888. Tube: Aldgate East