Eastern inspiration in London’s West End.

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You have to love Fiona Rae. She exhibited at the infamous Freeze and Sensation shows, but by the end of the 90s she’d jumped off the bandwagon and was lying low. This is her first exhibition in London since 1997 and it proves that her work has more staying power and universal resonance than most of the YBAs combined.

Hong Kong Garden is a beautiful show of large canvases covered in symbols, floral patterns, 70s psychedelic letters, digitized numbers, splattered paint and loose blurs of colour. Her abstract future-classical works look like Miro meeting Murakami in cyberspace.

Rae uses Photoshop to create her abstract compositions. She layers her patterns on the canvas in the same way Photoshop layers are formed on a screen. Yet the results look natural and improvised, recalling psychedelic rock posters and traditional Oriental decorative prints, simultaneously. Sadly, most exhibitions are rarely as coherent, fascinating and beautiful as this. Francesca Gavin 24 October 03

Fiona Rae: Hong Kong Garden is at Timothy Taylor Gallery, 24 Dering St, London, until 15 November 03.

useful link: www.timothytaylorgallery.com