Window pains

The British artist Howard Hodgkin paints bold, bravura brushstrokes of dazzling colour - azure blues, shimmering sea greens, ravishing burnished golds and fiery russets - in order to offer us a window on to the sultry Mediterranean prospect, but without actually having to describe anything in particular.

A rather more literal bent might find an artist painting more obviously scenic views, or perhaps even just taking photographs. Meanwhile, there are some artists who might even try doggedly to replicate in miniature sights such as, for instance, the picturesquely crumbling facades of charming, old Andalucian houses.

Derek Hirst, in fact, does just that, painting on rectangular slabs of plaster bright pastel hues against the bleached white of old southern Spanish villas, and then putting in similarly rainbow-hued window shutters, so that his pieces are half painting, half sculptural wall relief.

But don't expect anything that resembles the facades of buildings that have actually been lived in, kicked about a bit and have suffered exposure to the climate, for Hirst's plaster pieces are pristine and squeaky clean. And though some work better than others, they're all a touch twee, not a little unlike those miniature cottages you get in tourist shops.

When less is meticulously described and more simply suggested, as are a couple of the pieces in this exhibition, the works are at their most genuinely evocative.

Until Feb 5, Flowers Central, 21 Cork Street W1, Mon to Sat 10am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7439 7766. Tube: Piccadilly Circus/Green Park