Golden artwork

Palma is considered one of Guatemala's premier photographers but photography is just part of what he does. His high-concept collages are sepia shots on fibre-based paper, licked with gold leaf, hand drag-rolled with varnish, and more often than not layered with architectural aspects, graphic quirks or words ghosting credit-like across them.

The practised hand of the architect and the eye of the filmmaker is visible (Palma trained as both) and his cultural compass needle seems to be cocked somewhere between his humble, Mayan roots and the gilt and gaudiness of a Catholic upbringing.

The results are heavy, warm, spiced portraits informed by Mayan myth and Baroque bling which work best at their simplest.

In one, Pietro 2002, a young Mayan lad, uplit by a halo of light, whites of his eyes enhanced, exists in a hauntingly dark acetate eclipse, with only a fragment of a pair of worn shoes highlighted.

Elsewhere, as in Metafora, technique dominates. Palma adds gilt bands, a crimson block and some chopstick graphics, apropos of, erm, nothing. Its texture and patinas enchant, but the portrait feels rather overwhelmed, our Mayan sitter a little lost between her gold bookends.

Ultimately that's what Palma does, and does beautifully; creates sumptuous works that move the eye rather than the heart. High-polish, well-presented, commercial works for a high-polish, well-presented, commercial gallery. Tanis Taylor

Until Sept 27, Focus Gallery, 3 and 4 Percy Street W1, Tue to Sat 11am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7631 1150. www.focusgallery.co.uk Tube: Tottenham Court Road/ Goodge Street